SquareTrade (http://www.squaretrade.com) has analyzed iPhone accidents for over 20,000 iPhone 4s covered by SquareTrade Care Plans and found a 82% increase in reported broken screens compared to the iPhone 3GS. According to the independent warranty provider:
° iPhone 4 owners reported 82% more damaged screens in the first four months compared to iPhone 3GS owners.
° Overall, the reported accident rate for iPhone 4s was 68% higher than for the iPhone 3GS.
° An estimated 15.5% of iPhone 4 owners will have an accident within a year of buying their phone.
SquareTrade examined the accident claim rate reported by their customers to supply some concrete data to the discussion. The warranty provider looked at the accident claim rate for over 20,000 SquareTrade iPhone 4 warranty owners and compared this to the iPhone 3GS claim rate.
Their data shows that iPhone 4 owners are reporting accidents 68% more frequently than iPhone 3GS owners. Approximately 4.7% of iPhone 4 owners reported an accident to SquareTrade in the first four months of ownership, almost 70% higher than iPhone 3GS owners, 2.8% of whom had an accident over the same time period.
Of these iPhone 4 accidents, the vast majority involved a damaged screen. When SquareTrade evaluated damaged screen reports, they found the iPhone 4 had 82% more broken screens than the iPhone 3GS reported in the first 4 months.
“Interpreting the results more broadly, the iPhone 4 appears to be significantly more likely to break than previous versions, as we speculated back in our June iPhone report,” says SquareTrade. “Not only has the scratchable surface area doubled, the new aluminosilicate Gorilla glass used in the iPhone 4 doesn’t seem any less likely to break than previous models.”
