Being in the spotlight isn’t always a good thing. Just days after shutting Antennagate,Apple is again in the controversy crosshairs, this time behind claims that iPhone 4 glass is 82% more likely to shatter than the glass on the iPhone 3GS.
The report comes from independent warranty provider SquareTrade, which claims:
- “iPhone 4 owners reported 82% more damaged screens in the first 4 months compared to iPhone 3GS owners.”
- “Overall, the reported accident rate for iPhone [the] 4 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 concludes:
“With just 4 months of data, it’s clear that the iPhone 4 is significantly more prone to physical damage than its predecessor. The aluminosilicate glass seem[s] to crack at least as often as the old glass, and there is now twice as much surface area to break.
Despite this troubling increase, it’s important to take the accident rate into perspective. Overall, the iPhone is still a very well constructed device, with a non-accident malfunction rate much lower than most other consumer electronics.”
If this sounds like a disaster in the making, we’re in agreement, but consider this: Unlike the iPhone 3GS (or any other iPhone), the back of the iPhone 4 is also composed of glass — meaning it’s twice as likely to suffer a shatter — a variable that wasn’t computed in SquareTrade’s study. SquareTrade states that the iPhone 4 is breaking 82% more than the iPhone 3GS, but this is the sort of sleight of hand statement crafted to grab headlines.
Here’s the real world translation: In its sample groups of about 20,000 iPhone owners, SquareTrade actually found that 3.9% of iPhone 4s suffered broken glass in the first four months, in contrast to 2.1% with the iPhone 3GS. Sounds a lot less dramatic doesn’t it?
Apple Holic’s Jonny Evans took the math even further to point out that the survey only accounted for 771 broken iPhone 4s (out of 20,000), compared to 427 broken iPhone 3GS screens. Indeed there is an increase, but there is also a doubling of breakable surfaces, so don’t get too alarmed, this is a largely hyperbolic report.
That said, you should still avoid dropping your iPhone 4. Hyperbole aside, dropping gadgets tends to, you know, break them.
Image courtesy of iStockphoto, aceshot
More About: Antennagate, glass, glassgate, iphone 3Gs, iphone 4
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