Why don't consumer electronic devices get manufactured with metal exteriors?

Question

This will ensure that products like mobile phones and PDAs don't get damaged easily. For example, a plastic iPod is highly vulnerable to being dropped, cracked and scratched. However, if such products have metal exteriors, they cannot break easily. Therefore, why hasn't companies begun manufacturing everything from laptops to cell phones with metal covers? I would not mind having a metal PSP or iPod, and have assurance that it is nearly indestructible if it falls.

Answer 1

manufacturers and companies go through a lot of concept ideas before coming up with a final product and while i cant be sure myself why they wouldn't use metal instead of plastic as its the companies themselves choice.

one would of course be weight while many people would night mind having a heavier device it is not just the consumers that have problems with weight as when a company ships it products many methods will have a fee based on weight so if you were shipping say 100 plastic devices and they all weighed 1 lb against 100 metal devices that weighed 2 lb the fee for shipping would be higher for every load therefore the consumers price would go up.

second is that it costs a lot more to make something out of metal than plastic, and to  mass produce these to consumer needs would be a lot more expensive, causing consumer prices to go up

third might be the properties of metal and plastic themselves. and device with moving parts internally would be at a disadvantage with metal because metal will bend and keep that shape while most hardened plastic will just break off or crack while this may not seem like much if it does have moving internal parts the bent metal could cause problems within the device itself and would cause more serious damage to your device than a cracked exterior.

these may not be reasons why they would make something out of plastic but just things that i would consider if i was a manufacturer myself.

Answer 2

It mostly because of cost,

but also because of weight.

An Ipod shuffle would probably weigh alot more if it had

a metal exterior versus a plastic exterior.

Answer 3

Well, because it's cheaper for them to make them plastic. And if it breaks, then you have to buy a new one right? More money for "them". It's really that plain and simple : P

Jack