While the Samsung Galaxy S2 has received numerous phone of the year awards, users where unhappy about the plastic feel of the Galaxy S2. Before the arrival of the Galaxy S3 one thing was almost certain, Samsung was planning to improve the S3 on this point by using a different material for the casing.

While everyone expected this material to be ceramic, when the phone was released it became clear that no ceramic material was used for the Galaxy S3. But what is the phone made out of?

Samsung has confirmed that the Galaxy S3 is made of Polycarbonate.

Bye, bye cheap plastic, hello Polycarbonate!

Here is the official statement by Samsung:

Polycarbonate is used on the battery cover. Polycarbonate is lightweight, solid and is already being widely used in the mobile industry. It was chosen as the best material to represent the minimal organic design of GALAXY S III.

Using three layers of high quality, pure and clear polycarbonate, not only is the phone’s aesthetic elevated, but the durability and scratch resistance is maximized.

This statement puts an end to a lot of discussion around the web about what material was used for the back of the Galaxy S3.

But isn’t polycarbonate some sort of plastic?

Actually this is true and polycarbonate is a type of plastic, but don’t worry its not any regular type of plastic, polycarbonate is a premium material that is much stronger (over 300 times!) than normal plastic. While it might look or feel like any regular plastic, it is not.

Not only is polycarbonate much stronger than normal plastics, it is also more durable and scratch resistant. This while having a weight similar to other plastics, and a much lower weight than for example metal or ceramic materials.

Polycarbonate is a poplular choice for lots of different applications that require strength but need to be low in weight.

Thanks to these great specifications, polycarbonate nowadays is used in a lot of customers electronics. When we have a look at other mobile phones that where released lately, the HTC One X and Nokia Lumia 900 are also made out of polycarbonate.

One down side of polycarbonate is that it doesn’t look like any other premium materials like for example glass, metal, ceramic. This is why a lot of people assume that its just another sort of weak plastic.

I hope that by reading this post you are convinced that Polycarbonate is a good choice and huge improvement over the plastic used for the Galaxy S2.

source: PhoneArena