> The iphone 16's camera bump is 3.5mm.

Why even have a bump? Make the phone thicker by exactly that amount and increase the battery. Then the phone is flat and has a better battery life. Are there uses who actually prefer a bump?

> Are there users who actually prefer a bump?

Speaking for myself, I'm fine with it on Pixel phones.

I'd be happy with more battery and no bump if:

- phone makers gave up on the glass backs and metal, and made the body plastic (no more "premium" feel for the sake of it, I don't want heavy and fragile materials)

- the physical durability was balanced with the additional weight: dropping the phone the wrong angle shouldn't mean a guaranteed cracked screen.

The current Pixel9a would be near perfect balance for me, if they gave it better cameras and internals instead of making it a budget phone.

I don't want a phone that would be as heavy as you suggest. I have 0 issue with current battery life.

Like others a case has always made the bump a complete non-issue for me. My iPhone has never wobbles when laid back down on a table.

Motorola did some A/B testing in 2011 with Droid RAZR and Droid RAZR MAXX. They had identical hardware, but first one was the thin one with a camera bump, second one was uniformly thick (thus no bump) and put an extra battery there (which doubled the capacity).

Given that 3 years later they have stopped producing phones with bumps, I guess people really prefer battery to bumps ¯\_(ツ)_/¯