26% of iPhones spoilt in 2 years

SAN FRANCISCO

OWNERS of Apple’s iPhone, take note: More than one in four of the smartphones break or fail within two years, a company that provides after-sales warranties said on Tuesday.

SquareTrade, which sells extended warranties for iPhones, said in a Computerworld report that 26 per cent of the devices break down – or break – in the first two years of ownership.

Nevertheless, the figure is “actually pretty good”, said Mr Vince Tseng, vice-president of marketing at SquareTrade, adding that it is encouraging that the failure rates have fallen.

Computerworld said a similar SquareTrade analysis last year found that 31 per cent of all iPhones failed or broke within the first 24 months of purchase.

In the 24 months preceding last summer, 21 per cent and 10 per cent of warranty claims had been for accidental damage – when a phone was dropped – and for hardware failure respectively.

The claims fell to 18.1 per cent and 7.5 per cent respectively in the 22 months prior to this month, said Computerworld, which studied more than 25,000 warranty claims.

Mr Tseng said the decline was due mainly to improvements that Apple made in the iPhone’s touchscreen when it developed the 3GS model.

Quoting SquareTrade, Computerworld said the iPhone 3GS is more reliable and, apparently, sturdier than its predecessors, the iPhone 3G and the original iPhone. Mr Tseng said the improvements will likely continue
with the launch of the iPhone 4.

“Apple has got its manufacturing lines in shape, and failure rates have dropped year to year,” he was quoted by Computerworld as saying.

He added that the iPhone 4 “should be a good, solid device”, but was concerned about the all-glass back.

According to Computerworld, industry watchers have speculated that Apple switched from plastic to glass to improve voice and data reception.

And the best way to protect any iPhone? Use a cover, case or silicon skin, said Mr Tseng, especially if the iPhone is more than two years old. 

According to SquareTrade, three-year-old iPhones will experience a failure rate of 35 per cent to 40 per cent.

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