Samsung and Google Pixel keep making the same phone case mistake

Ben Schoon | Mar 8 2026 - 9:00 am PT

Smartphone cases are something we all use, but I don’t get why Samsung and Google keep making the same annoying mistake when it comes to their first-party Galaxy and Pixel cases.

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First-party smartphone cases are often overpriced, but they’re also often one of the better options, especially when your smartphone is brand new. Samsung Galaxy and Google Pixel devices are ever-growing in popularity, but the depth of the case market compared to the iPhone remains pretty shallow.

That said, I’ve been pretty annoyed about one aspect of both Google and Samsung’s first-party cases in recent years, and that’s with the silicone material these brands are choosing.

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It’s way too grippy, to the point where it’s basically unusable.

Over the past week I’ve been using Samsung’s Galaxy S26 Ultra in the brand’s official silicone case and, frankly, it’s been infuriating. The silicone material feels good in the hand where its grippy qualities are actually helpful, but sliding this phone in and out of a pocket is a constant irritation. It’s basically impossible to get the device out of my jeans without taking the whole pocket with it, and trying to slide it in is all the more frustrating.

The same has been true of Google’s official Pixel cases for the past couple of generations, which is a shame seeing as Google so perfectly color-matches its cases to the phones. When my wife upgraded to Pixel 10 Pro she was excited to get the official color-matching “Jade” case, but later asked to swap the case out because she was frustrated with the same problem as me.

My question to both of these brands is simply, why? Why are we still doing this? I understood it when Google made this mistake on the Pixel 8 series a few years ago and figured it would be a one-off problem. It’s improved slightly, but it certainly hasn’t gone away. And I’d argue that Samsung’s silicone case is somehow even worse.

What do you think? Have you run into this problem?

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