If you have a smartphone, we’re willing to bet you’ve experienced true love. You probably have used it for text messages, streaming media, browsing online, and social media posts. Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end, even when it comes to that nice, shiny smartphone you have in your hand.
As this article is about to prove, smartphone repair is inevitable – if you have a cell phone you love to use, statistically, you’re probably going to end up having to get it fixed at some point. Let’s look at the numbers!
You’ll likely break your phone within 10 weeks of the purchase.
We treat our phones like gold after we have just purchased them. But as the novelty wears off, we’re a little rougher with our phones. I know when I first bought my last cell phone, I lovingly held it in a bulky protective case and handled it with care. Then, as time went by, the case came off while I went jogging. Then it stayed off. Then, maybe I wasn’t as careful as I was after I just bought my phone and I dropped it. The screen shattered into pieces, and I needed cell phone screen repair. True story.
Almost half of you will break your phones on accident.
That’s right, 45% of cell phone owners damage their phones by accident. To be fair, I don’t think many people damage their devices on purpose though. This statistic might make you wonder where the damage is mostly done. Well, accidental damage is most likely to happen in your own house. You might break your phone while you’re in the bathroom, in the kitchen, or sit on it while you go to relax and watch some TV. This kind of makes sense: we feel safe and comfortable in our houses, which causes us to be less cautious with our smartphones.
Almost 40% of smartphone owners drop their phones right out of their hands.
38% to be exact. While this number might sound staggering (if you haven’t dropped your phone yet you might wonder how one drops an expensive device from one’s hand) it makes more sense than we’d like to admit. Maybe you get an important call and scramble to answer it, only to drop your phone and wind up in the smartphone repair shop, getting your device fixed.
More people drop their smartphones in liquid than spill liquid on their devices.
If you have an iPhone, you know how terrifying water damage is. The geniuses won’t touch your phone after the liquid indicator has alerted them there’s been water damage! I don’t believe you if you say your phone hasn’t come into contact with a liquid at all. Just admit you were using your phone in the bathroom.
15% of smartphone owners break their devices by dropping them off of their laps.
A fall from the couch on your lap to the floor doesn’t seem that far away. But alas – it’s far enough to cause enough of a fall to break your new phone! Even if you have purchased a protective case, it just takes one fall the wrong way for your phone to shatter into pieces.
We tend to think smartphone repairs will be less expensive than they are.
It has been studied – and 70% of survey respondents report that they believe their smartphone screen repair will cost less than $150. This is not the case though! The cost of a screen repair will be around $170. While this cost seems high if you’ve only been to a third party local repair shop with an older phone, think about the latest iPhone models, like the Xs – this will cost you $329. Non-screen repairs are expensive too – breaking the bank from anywhere ranging from $249 – $599 on average. 77% of those surveyed expected these repairs to cost $250 or less.
People with cracked smartphone screens get a bad reputation
If you’re walking around with a cracked smartphone screen, you’re judged as less favorable by your peers, particularly on first dates! Almost 15% of daters on Match.com said they would think twice about dating someone with a smashed smartphone screen.
This judgment apparently isn’t a great motivation to get our phone screen fixed. Two-thirds of survey respondents report they would not repair a damaged phone if it could still work. 59% of consumers said they would rather deal with a broken phone for a while and upgrade their device instead of fixing an older one. These are some surprising statistics about smartphone repair for sure! Not only is it easier than you might have imagined to damage your phone (especially from your lap!), but as a consumer, you are less likely to get your problem fixed, even though you estimate that smartphone repair will be cheaper than it actually is! In this case, scrutiny from other people, even potential mates, isn’t enough motivation to go fix your smartphone. For now, most of us will deal with the inconvenience of the damage, or will simply wait for the next upgrade.
