Americans Have Spent An Estimated $5.9 Billion Repairing Their Damaged iPhones(cultofmac.com)
cultofmac.com
Americans Have Spent An Estimated $5.9 Billion Repairing Their Damaged iPhones
http://www.cultofmac.com/191579/americans-have-spent-an-estimated-5-9-billion-repairing-their-damaged-iphones/
3 comments
Nonsense. About 85 million iPhones have been sold in the USA to date. $5.9 billion would be $70 in repair costs for each and every phone sold. In my experience, it costs about $50-$150 to repair a (reparable) iPhone, so this would suggest -- conservatively! -- that approximately one in every two phones is repaired. I call BS. They're probably counting replacements, many of which would happen anyway. For example, I didn't bother to fix a slightly cracked screen on my 3G, but simply waited until the 4 came out and upgraded then. This "study" would probably regard the entire price of the new iPhone 4 as the cost of the damage to the 3G, but of course I would have upgraded even if the 3G had been pristine.
This really comes down to whether you put your iPhone in a case or not. If you don't, you're either very careful or it's a matter of time before your screen breaks. If you put it in a case, your phone becomes 50% thicker and much uglier, but it becomes basically indestructible (at least 25 drops from waist-height onto concrete).
Sorry to say, but as a customer that's what you get for buying a glass phone.
According to the last actual study[1] SquareTrade published, accident rates for the iPhone 4 were only 15% greater than for comparable Android phones that aren't "made of glass," so unless other high-end smartphones are significantly cheaper to repair (maybe) or replace (no), the headline is mostly just saying "in the past five years, Americans have broken a shit-ton of expensive smartphones," using the iPhone as an example because it's the most recognizable brand.
Link bait? Of course it is. Of exactly the sort one might expect from, say, the PR department of a company selling smartphone insurance.
[1] http://www.squaretrade.com/cell-phone-comparison-study-nov-1...
Link bait? Of course it is. Of exactly the sort one might expect from, say, the PR department of a company selling smartphone insurance.
[1] http://www.squaretrade.com/cell-phone-comparison-study-nov-1...