My iPhone in its Otter case is twice as thick and three times as ugly ... but it isn't broken.

But I am fat and old and don't use my phone to prove how cool I am .... But seriously, why make a phone which lasts (if it costs more to make) when the technology is oping to advance (in carefully controlled dribbles) every several months anyway?

Most people don't buy phones to have phones ... they buy phones to make personal statements. Not like with bicycles, where practicality rules the day.