SquareTrade
, a company that sells warranties for a host of products, has released a study on smartphone reliability. In analyzing the failure of just over 50,000 smartphones, the company has compiled a list detailing which OEM makes the most reliable device.
In measuring hardware durability, SquareTrade reports that, after 12-months of ownership, both BlackBerrys and iPhone 3GS’ were the least accident prone handsets. RIM’s smartphones had a 6.7% accident rate while the iPhone 3GS had a 9.4% accident rate. HTC and Motorola were tied for third amongst specific OEMs with a 12.2% accident rate. The report lists the overall rate of “other” smartphones as 10.2% and — unsurprisingly — the iPhone 4 fared the worst with a 13.8% rate.
SquareTrade also tried to measure overall smartphone reliability. As the company explains: “To arrive at overall failure rates, we looked at and combined both types of failures, accidents and normal malfunctions.” The company reports that the iPhone 4 was the most reliable smartphone after 12-months of ownership with a 2.1% failure rate followed by the iPhone 3GS and Motorola sets both boasting a 2.3% rate of failure. HTC placed third with a 3.7% failure rate and BlackBerry ended up fourth with 6.3%; the failure rate of “other smartphones” was listed at 6.7%.
Obviously some figures reported were projections, as devices like the iPhone 4 have been available for less than twelve months… but the study is still pretty interesting. Hit the jump to see some other highlights from SquareTrade.
• The iPhone 4 was the most reliable phone, with 2.1% projected to have a non-accident malfunction in the first 12 months The major makers of Android devices, Motorola and HTC, were also very reliable, with just 2.3% and 3.7%.• BlackBerry and other smart phones were less reliable, with 6.3% and 6.7% failing in the first 12 months of use.• Accidental damage is responsible for over 75% of smart phone failures. BlackBerry devices had the lowest one-year accident rate at 6.7%, and the iPhone 4 had the highest at 9.4%.• The iPhone 3GS had the lowest overall failure rates, with just 11.7% failing over the course of a year, and the aggregated pool of other smart phones had the highest failure rate at 16.9%.
