Tuesday 30 April 2013

Insurance firm predicts one in four Galaxy S4 owners to break it within a year


Samsung expects to sell at least 10 million units of the Galaxy S4 every month, and the flagship is attracting a lot of attention. Insurance firm SquareTrade believes that Samsung will sell more Galaxy S4s than any other in the past, and predicts as many as one in five American consumers will buy the phone. However, worryingly, the firm also says that a quarter of those owners are expected to break their shiny new Galaxy S4s within a year.

The Galaxy S4's popularity does not have any bearing on what people think about its plastic body, and the handset is being compared with the likes of Apple’s iPhone and HTC’s unibody design. There are even jokes that say Samsung’s phones are more affordable than the competition to make room for the insurance against damage.

The report says that since 2007, in the US alone, Android smartphone owners have paid over US$7.2 billion in repair fees, and Samsung customers account for more than half of the total. It goes on to add that last year, nearly 30 percent of Samsung Galaxy phone owners in the UK and US reported breaking or damaging their handsets.

The report, which combines a study of more than 6,500 users in Britain and US as well as SquareTrade's historical data, shows that 19 percent of the people who own a Samsung device used to be iPhone users, and are 20 per cent more likely to get damage cover than those sticking with Apple’s product. "While Samsung owners seem to be savvier about protecting their devices, millions of people will suffer the unexpected drops and spills that are so common today, and discover that it's not US$199 to replace their smartphone - but between US$500 and US$700," Ty Shay, Chief Marketing Officer, SquareTrade told AFP.

Of course, if you don't want to get insurance for a smartphone just yet but still want a Galaxy S4, then we'd advise you to wait a few months. Samsung is reportedly working on a water and dust-proof version of the S4 that may be announced very soon.

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