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iPhone 4 is more fragile than past models, says study

A new study by warranty company SquareTrade has revealed that the iPhone 4 is much more fragile than its predecessors, with the new phone 82 percent more likely than older models to be damaged within its first 120 days of ownership.

The company examined 22,000 reports from iPhone 4 SquareTrade warranty owners, as well as 20,000 reports from iPhone 3G devices.



Says SquareTrade marketing VP Vince Tseng: "The iPhone 4 is a more fragile device than its predecessors. The surface area ... which you can scratch or break has basically doubled."

The iPhone 3G and 3GS were encased in plastic, whereas the iPhone 4 uses glass on the backplate. The iPhone 2G used an aluminum back.

About 30 percent of the reported damage for iPhone 4 warranty owners had to do with the back glass. When Steve Jobs unveiled the device earlier this year, he boasted of the glass, which is "30 times harder than plastic...and 20 times stiffer than plastic."

Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 12 Oct 2010 21:40

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• 5 comments

• KillerBug

  "When Steve Jobs unveiled the device earlier this year, he boasted of the glass, which is "30 times harder than plastic...and 20 times stiffer than plastic."
  
  That is pretty funny...not only did they not use shatter proof glass, not only did they use very weak glass (only 30x harder than plastic), but then they brag about the fact that it seems designed to shatter.

  12.10.2010 23:27 #1

• xnonsuchx

  Idiots just need to quit abusing their portable electronics.

  13.10.2010 07:38 #2

• dEwMe

  It's fine if you would just stop holding it wrong!!!
  
  

  Just my $0.02,
  
  dEwMe
  

  13.10.2010 08:39 #3

• biglo30

  Should have just used gorilla glass instead of always trying to be innovative. I'm not saying that being innovative is a big thing but actually they would have had more time to actually test it before giving guarantees.

  13.10.2010 08:57 #4

• lxfactor

  next years lines are gonna be longer for the next iphone is the funny part

  13.10.2010 16:55 #5