New fear unlocked: Your brand-new phone could turn into this moldy mess

Android Authority

2 days ago

TL;DR Porous materials, including some leather substitutes, are susceptible to getting damp and harboring the growth of mold.
The new POCO X7 PRO features one colorway that includes just such an eco-leather panel on the handset's rear.
Over on Reddit, one new X7 PRO owner has shared a pic that appears to show mold taking over the leather.
You don't need to be a Last of Us fan to have a healthy fear of fungus, and anyone who's ever lived in a home infested with black mold can attest to how traumatic even seeing that first hint of it can be. And considering how often we're touching our phones everyday, holding them up against our faces, having a moldy phone is just about the worst thing we can imagine.
That's exactly why we're feeling some second-hand discomfort upon checking out the image shared on Reddit by user Few_Combination5430 over on the site's POCO phone sub, detailing the fate of their new POCO X7 PRO:
The X7 PRO comes in a few color variants — green, yellow, and black — and while the green and black options feature a dual-textured plastic back, the yellow version opts for a soft-touch eco-leather rear.
The problem there is that while materials like metal, glass, and even plastic are relatively non-porous, that's not necessarily the case with artificial leather like POCO uses here. There are a lot of different ways to manufacture such materials, using polyurethane or even plant products, and depending on how that's done, these eco-leathers can have the same kind of porosity as natural leather. And just like real leather can get damp and moldy, that appears to be what's going on with the back of this X7 PRO.
We've heard of phone cases getting moldy before, and while that's equally as gross, it's also something that's a little easier to move on from — diching the case, giving the phone's hard surfaces a through disinfecting, and picking up a new (maybe less porous) case. When it's your actual phone itself that's harboring a small fungal colony, the best path forward isn't as clear.
Of course, prevention is often the best medicine, and you're probably much better off just avoiding a moldy phone in the first place. That means thinking about material choices when making your purchasing decision, and just keeping your phone away from particularly damp and humid conditions whenever possible.
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