The 3210 glory era of 'indestructible' Nokias had the glass under plastic (polycarbonate?), and weren't touchscreens.
That was also the big era of replaceable phone cases. I think people who are worried about the frailty of the phone buy secondary-market protective cases these days.
Extending the bezel to the edge of the phone means there's no "crumple zone" to absorb energy of impacts - that shock goes to the screen.
Personally I think a mobile phone that looks lovely but has little chance of surviving metre drop is a design fail.
Modern phones are stupidly flimsy.