Google had to cut costs when manufacturing the Pixel 3a to meet a certain price point and as such went for a plastic body — sorry, polycarbonate. While the plastic does not feel as nice in the hand as a glass or aluminium build it turns out that it is extremely durable.
JerryRigEverything has run the Pixel 3a through its strenuous durability tests and the results are surprising. Even though the new affordable Pixel does not have the premium price tag of other Pixels it performed well in most tests.
Testing the DragonTrail Glass protection on the display showed that keys and coins would not be capable of scratching the glass but anything harder will and thus they recommend a screen protector still.
The plastic durability testing showed that the polycarbonate is relatively strong as well and while easy to scratch the scratches are not ‘that’ visible. He also gave the phone a bend test which it passed with both the frame and the glass surviving the bend durability test — there’s one advantage for a plastic phone.
The video is well worth a watch, one for the tests and two for the funny commentary on top of the video. There’s a rhyme about the headphone jack that some will love, and some shade thrown at video sponsor Dbrand in a very entertaining video.
In the end the Pixel 3a survived the testing and turned out to be extremely durable and at that price should be in the consideration when buying any mid-range smartphone, especially if you are a bit rougher with your phones. Check out our Pixel 3a XL review to see if this phone is right for you.
I’ve noticed no-one has done a drop test yet though which is interesting…