[danielconde]

Those are excellent points. Old small flip phones sometimes had a small place for a strap loop so you can fish it out of a bag by the strap, and of course also to hold on to it. Phone straps are popular in Japan, and I've seen some that connect to the headphone jack, but it doesn't really work well, so the sturdier ones connect to a bumper.

A bumper-design (maybe a groove to hold a bumper) is a good idea too. One can argue that making phones easier to damage encourages people to replace it with new ones so manufacturers have hidden incentive to avoid such safety features, but ultimately if someone comes up with a better design like you state, people will flock to it.

[throwaway41597]

All agreed. I'd add that the market is slowing down, so bumpers could end up bringing more profits. First, customers would be more willing to invest in higher margin products if the device was more robust and likely to last. And manufacturers could sell official bumpers with advanced shock-proofing, a nice metal finish, perfect fit to the case, many different colors, ...

[danielconde]

Good point about market maturity. If people are holding on to phones longer, sell them more accessories that people replace periodically, and make the base unit more also high margin (if they accomodate the official bumpers). But it's the consumer's choice -- they don't need to buy new bumpers if they are content with what they have. It's a variant of the razor & blades model.