Phones with a metal body

Metal body/back cover

— devices with a back cover made of metal — most often aluminium alloy. In some models, such material may be supplemented with plastic inserts; such bodies are also commonly referred to as metal.

The main advantage of metal is high strength and scratch resistance, as well as a solid look. In addition, its high thermal conductivity improves heat dissipation from the hardware, which is especially important for advanced smartphones with performant CPUs and GPUs. On the other hand, metal cases are somewhat more expensive than plastic cases and are more difficult to manufacture — especially if the colour of the case differs from the natural colour of the alloy. In addition, such a surface tends to slip in the hands — even matte and corrugated covers are prone to this, not to mention gloss (see "Back cover (body)"). You can eliminate this flaw using a protective cover, but not all users like additional accessories. So nowadays, metal is somewhat less common than plastic and mainly in mid and top-tier devices (although there are also low-cost devices made of metal).

As for the bezels in such models (see "Bezel Material"), in most cases it is also metal. However, in some smartphones (mostly inexpensive ones) there is a plastic coating on the bezels; it usually does not differ in colour from the metal body.