A recent study carried out by the parent company of tech problem-solvers FixYa has found that Apple’s iPhone is far and away the most reliable on the market, and compared with arch-rival Samsung, is a full 300% more reliable. Earlier this week, we learned the Cupertino handset was the best-selling smartphone in the world based on Q4 sales figures, but while that is a seasonal affair which often swings in favor of the company which has most recently dropped a flagship, the depth of the FixYa study makes the outcome even more damning. It took into account a total 722,558 combined problem reports, along with market share data from StatCounter, in order to obtain reliability scores; and in short, Apple excelled while competitors faltered.
Apple’s handsets scored in at 3.47, almost 300% better than Samsung, which only managed 1.21. Meanwhile, Finnish company Nokia took third spot with 0.68. The least reliable were found to be handsets of Motorola devices, which could only muster a score of 0.13.
Among the common problems reported with the iPhone were battery life, and although FixYa users also reported issues such as “Lack of New Features” and “No Customizability,” we’re not too sure how these gripes affect reliability. Samsung users, conversely, commonly found issues with their smartphone’s microphone and speakers, while Nokia owners cited problems such as “Laggy Response Time” and “Poor App Ecosystem.” Again, a “poor app ecosystem” is more of a subjective comment than an actual issue with reliability, and even the complaint regarding lag seems a little off since Lumias are renowned for their responsiveness.
FixYa CEO Yaniv Bensadon maintains that the result is “an accurate and fair method of, scaled approach to fairly compare these top companies to truly see who is the most reliable, and who is barely even competing.”
Having used a bunch of iPhones through generations, I can certainly vouch for their reliability, and although Samsung appears to have scored way behind its bitter Cupertino-based rival, it has still done a much better job than the vast majority of its other competitors.
Samsung, Nokia, Motorola users – do you agree with these results? Is your smartphone as unreliable as has been portrayed by these findings? Share your thoughts below!
You can follow us on Twitter, add us to your circle on Google+ or like our Facebook page to keep yourself updated on all the latest from Microsoft, Google, Apple and the web.
