Over 30% of IPhones Fail Within the First 2 Years

Nearly a third of all Apple iPhones suffer a break-down within their first two-years, although the majority of the failures are due to owner damage, reports warranty provider, SquareTrade. Their study of phone faults found that while the iPhone had a better failure rate (10%) from normal use over 22 months, compared to the Blackberry (15%) and Treo (20%), failures from accidental damage were high at over 20% in the same time period.

Of all iPhone accidents studied, drops resulting in a broken screen accounted for 65% of all accidents reported and water damage accounted for over 25%.

Other Conclusions of the study:

• Nearly two-thirds of iPhone accidental failures were the result of a drop or fall - mostly resulting in cracked, unusable screens.
• Water damage was the next most frequent source of failure, accounting for over a quarter of reported accidents. The most commonly reported water incidents were iPhones dropped in drinks and in the toilet.
• The iPhone 3G's malfunction rate is 40% lower than the iPhone Edge model, after the first 9 months of data for the 3G.

The full study is available for download at https://www.squaretrade.com/pages/iphone-reliability-study-06-2009.

Posted to the site on 23rd June 2009