Report claims it’s now more reliable to own Android devices than iPhones

Based on my experiences and those of all theiPhone owners I know, I find this hard to believe. However, according to the Q4 2016 State of Mobile Device Performance and Health report by the Blancco Technology Group, which specializes in data erasure and mobile device diagnostics, it’s now more reliable to own Android devices than iPhones.

The report claims the iOS failure rate has consecutively increased quarter-over-quarter – from 15% in the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2015 to 25% in Q1 2016 to 58% in Q2 2016 to 62% in Q3 2016. Although the iOS failure rate (62%) has since stabilized in Q4 2016, Apple is still playing catch up with Android (47%), claims Blancco. 

Additionally, the company claims that the iPhone 6 has been the worst performing iOS device consecutively for four quarters with the highest failure rate compared to other models – 25% in Q1 2016, 29% in Q2 2016, 13% in Q3 2016 and 15% in Q4 2016. The Q4 2016 State of Mobile Device Performance and Health report also says that:

The newest iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus models aren’t exempt from problems – making the list of iOS devices with high failure rates in Q4 2016 at 3 % and 3%, respectively.

Crashing apps, overheating and headphone malfunctions have persistently plagued iPhones in the last year.

Android devices failed less and have shown signs of improvement over time – with the failure rate decreasing by almost half from 85% in Q4 2015 to 44% in Q1 2016 to 35% in Q2 2016.

Samsung consistently had the highest failure rate among Android manufacturers for five quarters in a row – at 27% in Q4 2015, 43% in Q1 2016, 26% in Q2 2016, 11% in Q3 2016 and 16% in Q4 2016.

Camera, battery charge and USB glitches have been a constant source of problems for Android users.

Despite their reign as three of the most popular social media apps in the world, the Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat apps repeatedly crashed on iPhones in the last year.

Since first appearing on the list of top Android crashing apps in Q2 2016 (12%), the Google Play Services app has shown signs of improvement and its crashing rate has dropped to 10% in Q3 2016 and 5% in Q4 2016.