iOS and Android phones are the two mega rivals in the smartphone market, and in the second quarter, iPhones outperformed Android devices in terms of performance. According to Blancco Technology Group, the failure rate of Android phones was at 25%, almost double the rate of at which iOS devices failed.
Bad news for Samsung
The latest report from Blancco could be heart-wrenching for Samsung, as its devices had the highest failure rate (61%) in the second quarter of 2017. LG was in second place with a failure rate of 11%, Sony devices had a 6% failure rate, ZTE devices stood at 5%, Sharp was at 3%, and finally, Kyocera came in at 2%. Among all Samsung devices, the Galaxy S7 was found to have the highest failure rate.
For Android phones, the problem was mostly with battery charging and screen lock issues. Battery charging issues were reported by 11% of Android users around the globe in the second quarter. The phone screen lock emerged as a problem in 7% of the devices across Asia.
Further, the report claims that among all iPhones, the iPhone 6, iPhone 6s and iPhone 7 has the highest rate of failure. The iPhone 6 had a failure rate of 26%, followed by the iPhone 6s at 11%, and the iPhone 7 at a failure rate of 7%.
The issues related to the iPhone 6 and 6s came to light when owners started complaining last year that the touchscreen stopped working or that it works now and then. There were other complaints that the touchscreen became less responsive over that period. Due to the growing complaints, Apple was left with no choice but to address the issues. However, much to the surprise of the iPhone owners, Apple stated that the defects might be the result of dropping the phone multiple times on a hard surface, notes BGR.
It must be noted that in its report, Blancco uses the term “failure” to denote a wide array of first and hird-party issues. Failures can range from headset issues to phone reboots and so on.
Android phones had a better app crashing rate
Though the failure rate for Android phones was higher, they performed better when it comes to frequency of app crashing. Blancco’s Q2 2017 State of Mobile Device Performance and Health report claims that Apple is still struggling to shrink the rate of app crashing compared to that of Android devices. The report states that the app crash rate on iOS devices rose to 54% in the second quarter, an increase from 50% in the first quarter. Android phones performed better, with the app crash rate coming down to 10% from 18% in the same period.
Along with the usual data that the technology group collects every quarter, this time Blancco Group came up with a new set of interesting data. For instance, over half of the iPhone devices bought through carriers and manufacturers for testing have the Find My Phone Activation Lock on it.
“This indicates that iPhone users are not only becoming more aware of data privacy as a whole, but they’re also becoming more proactive in taking the necessary measures to prevent access to and exposure of their sensitive mobile data,” said Blancco Technology Group Chief Strategy Officer Richard Stiennon.
