As soon as it became clear that the iPhone 8 will get a glass back, it aroused two kinds of reactions. One was positive as it meant that owners would finally see the presence of wireless charging. The second, however, was quite negative, as glass backs mean more problems. Especially in the event of an accidental fall. The glass on the back of the phone was last used by Apple in the 4 and 4S models. Since then, metal backs decorated the back. There are certainly many benefits to switching back to glass, but once it's damaged, it's going to cost you a lot to repair.
We can get an idea of the repair prices thanks to the terms of the new AppleCare+ plan, which costs $8 for the new iPhone 129 and $8 for the iPhone 149 Plus. The AppleCare+ add-on plan adds an extra year of warranty to your device (the US warranty is only one year) and a co-payment for repairs for up to two accidental damages to your phone.
And right here you can see how complicated and expensive repairing the back of the phone can be. If you want to repair the display under the AppleCare+ plan, you will pay a fee of $29. iFixit's disassembly confirms that access to the display itself is relatively seamless. However, as soon as you want to replace the back of the phone, for example, because of a broken glass, the fee will be $99. The back glass part of the phone is significantly more difficult to replace. The glass itself cannot be replaced because it is glued and the entire part must be replaced with a new one.
As for the AppleCare+ program itself, these "discounted" fees only apply twice. Once you exceed this limit, you will pay 349 or $399 for each additional repair of your device. The price of the AppleCare+ package itself is $129 for the iPhone 8 and $149 for the iPhone 8 Plus. AppleCare packages are not officially available for Czech distribution, and if you are interested in them, they must be purchased from abroad within ninety days of purchasing the phone.
Source: iphonehacks
Hmm, not a very good strategy :-( The glass makes the phone more "slippery" and easier to fall out of your hand… On the other hand, I had 4, dropped it many times and thankfully didn't break my back, but you can't count on it…
According to reactions from abroad, the "grip" should be significantly better than it was for phones with a metal body. People who played with the eight compared it to the Jet Black versions of the iPhone 7. So it should hold up much better.. I had the four for over three years and it only took one fall to crack the back :( But I can't blame the glass :)
Fortunately, he changed his back at number four, and he changed it completely like it... I had about ten different backs with different motifs, which I changed every now and then.. Unfortunately, with eight, it is out of the question...
So maybe yes. Personally, I thought the "grip" would be great in the 4, but once my hands got sweaty, it was a problem. With metal backs, it doesn't slide like that, although it does a little.
Otherwise, 4 has fallen on me several times and the back has never cracked. Sometimes I don't understand what people do with these phones. I've dropped phones a lot, and not always on soft carpet, but I haven't had anything crack on it. Now at 7, I have a slightly battered corner. The frame always somehow "revealed", "dented", but the glass always held. I guess I'm really lucky...