The Drum Awards for Marketing - Extended Deadline

-d -h -min -sec

Android IPhone Smartphone

iPhone users are the most accident prone, reveals Lightspeed GMI report

Author

By Gillian West, Social media manager

November 27, 2014 | 3 min read

iPhone users have been found to be the most unlucky with almost half (47 per cent) admitting to mobile mishaps such as sitting on their handset, dropping it in a toilet, spilling a drink on it an putting it through the washing machine.

The report on consumers and smartphones from Lightspeed GMI revealed that one fifth of Britons have damaged their phone so badly it has needed to be replaced, with sitting on a phone revealed to be the most common accident.

Of those surveyed 27 per cent had sat on their handsets, eight per cent had stood on it and one per cent admitted to having microwaved their device.

Android users followed iPhone users as the second most unlucky batch of smartphone owners with 41 per cent owning up to a mobile mishap, with Windows phone users (38 per cent) and other smartphone users (35 per cent) following behind. iPhones were also found the most likely to be sat on (31 per cent).

Being unable to make or receive calls was the only scenario where at least half (63 per cent) of the respondents said they would pay to repair or replace their phone. Apart from call function the majority of Brits would put up with problems with 63 per cent happy to live with a cracked screen and 53 per cent persevering with a broken head phone socket. Almost half (45 per cent) would live without the latest software update.

Despite the number of mobile mishaps just over one quarter of the smartphone owners surveyed had insurance with 24-34s, 55-64s and iPhone users the most likely to have a policy.

Ralph Risk, marketing director Europe at Lightspeed GMI, commented that “manufacturers might want to think about ways to make phones more appealing – particularly as the market is at saturation point” (water resistance, smash proof and drop proof features were all found to be appealing to users).

“Technical gizmos are all well and good, but there’s a real opportunity to make them people-proof too...Throw in a no-quibble replacement insurance policy for the chewed, cooked, squashed, soaked or dropped phone, and there may be a new revenue stream for manufacturers,” he said.

The results follow a survey conducted on GMI’s online panel in October 2014 with 1,000 respondents who all owned smartphones. 54.5 per cent were Android users, 29 per cent had an iPhone, Windows phone users accounted for 9.5 per cent and other smartphones (e.g. Blackberry’s) counted for seven per cent.

Android IPhone Smartphone

More from Android

View all

Trending

Industry insights

View all
Add your own content +