I agree that there should be phones that prioritize sturdiness for clumsy people, but I see things like sturdiness and waterproof capabilities used as an excuse to get rid of useful features, and I don't like it. I've had cell phones for over 2 decades, and I've never dropped one; having an SD card slot and headphone jack is much more important to me than durability, since I rarely hold it over water, and always make sure to keep a solid grip regardless of the circumstances.
I got my first cell phone in middle school, and I knew that if it broke I wasn't getting another one, so I made sure to hold it securely when using it, since I didn't want to drop and break it. When I eventually upgraded to a smartphone a few years after they started getting popular, I held it even more securely, since it was even more expensive, and even more fragile. At this point it's just second nature to me to handle phones like I'm transporting fine china.
I think I'm pretty careful with my phones. In the last 20 years I've broken only one. But they are easily dropped, I do it pretty often. Just because it's something I'm always holding and moving around.
I'm not trying to claim superiority for never having dropped a phone - I understand that different people have different needs, and one of them is a phone that can survive frequent falls. However, I also recognize that features that myself and others use regularly are often removed from models that emphasize durability, whether or not their removal is actually helping, or just cutting costs. So I don't want to push phone manufacturers to focus so much on that one feature - that is important to some, but not to others - that they end up removing features that are equally important to certain people.
I agree that the features are possible while still making the phone sturdier, which I wholeheartedly support, but I also understand that capitalism doesn't usually let us have upgrades, only tradeoffs, and usually bad ones.
That's exactly my point. Different people have different needs, so while OP is right that there should be phones for themselves and yourself that address the fact that a significant portion of the population drop their phones regularly, my own needs follow a different hierarchy that benefits from a separate set of features.
The fact that phones are all kinda just the same, with any changes made to one model frequently rippling through to other models from other manufacturers in time, is an issue. The customization to phones shouldn't only apply to external features like cases and dongles.
having an SD card slot and headphone jack is much more important to me than durability
por que no los dos? i drop my phone on nearly a daily basis, because i am clumsy af, but the screen is more scratch and impact resistant than any screen protector i could purchase, and it's still fine after a couple years of that abuse. it still has a headphone jack and removable sim/sd tray, and if it ever gets dirty i can wash it in the sink. i do wish it had a removable battery and a better camera, but nothing's perfect i guess. there's no reason sturdiness or waterproofness need to get in the way of any functionality.
the trick is though, they don't market these sorts of phones to clumsy people, they more aim them at construction workers.