old phones were largely very small and light with comparatively small screens, so you're way less likely to break it compared to a thin, heavy device with the same or lower overal durability

@noiob I think cases were mostly for larger things like PDAs, pocket PCs and the like

@kyra yeah but those were usually OEM, weren't they?

@noiob where there's a popular device there's infinite injection moulded/pleather garbage to wrap it in

@kyra yeah but devices usually weren't that popular, or they had moving parts that were hard to build a case for

@noiob if you have a factory already you can sell 1% of the things you make and make a massive profit. Petroleum biproducts don't cost a whole lot

@noiob obviously prior to the iphone yeah they were less common but when you can make a thousand shitty cases for less than the device costs you're probably gonna at least try

@kyra molds and r&d cost money

@kyra also people ain't gonna buy cases for their nokias that leave a hole in the floor rather than break when dropped

@noiob there were other phone manufacturers, and also some of those cases were designed to provide grip on smooth plastic handsets rather than protecting them from falls

@noiob also water resistant cases were a thing

@kyra heh

@noiob but yeah manufacturers used to give you things before it became cool to remove a feature every 2 years