Indeed, in their heydey Blackberry had a leather-covered removable back cover. It was a premium product designed to be familiar to fancy people who wore hand-made suits and shoes. Indeed it was far more "quality" than the blingiest gold iPhone, which is just tacky.
A back cover that pops off _appears_ more fragile to most people.
Similar thing with water resistance. They could make a resealable back cover. However, you now have support trying to determine if someone's phone has water damage due to manufacturing issues or because they didn't put the cover back on. This leads back to the phone appearing more fragile (or Apple seeming petty).
You also have the scenario where the phone is dropped hard enough for the cover to come off and then land in water.
I’m not either, but you’d have to figure out an extremely special way to create a water-resistant phone with battery contacts that would not corrode on contact with water.
Plus, battery contacts don't corrode from a short exposition to water (otherwise, so would the headphone plug).
I have a Nexus 7 as well and I have no idea what this pop out cover means. Can you please help me understand? Thanks
Who said anything about crappy? High quality is achievable.
> If you do that, you've made a fragile piece of crap with no water resistance
As opposed to a fragile piece of crap with (some) water resistance? I'm not an expert on water resistance but I'm guessing something can be both resealable and water resistant.
> much less durability
Providing a back cover that would pop off if you drop the phone probably improves durability, due to the ability for energy to escape.
> Space which is in very short supply.
Why is it in short supply, other than because Apple tells you that you need a thinner phone?