Last month we reported iPhones tend to have a lot of accidents. SquareTrade, a company that sells smartphone insurance policies, released a study showing that damaged iPhones have cost U.S. consumers $5.9 billion since their introduction in 2007.
But where and how does this damage occur? SquareTrade can now answer that question, releasing a study that shows 51 percent of accidents to iPhones happen around the home, usually in the kitchen.
Unusual not so unusual
The study also revealed that "unusual" iPhone accidents are much more common than previously expected: In addition to an astonishing nine percent toilet mishap statistic, the research shows that five percent of iPhone users have put an iPhone in the washing machine and six percent of users have put their device on top of their car and then driven off.
"Smartphones have become our third hand -- our instinctual resource for information and entertainment," said Ty Shay, SquareTrade's CMO. "Whether or not you're the one in ten that drops your iPhone in the toilet, you're likely taking your phone everywhere, and that habit needs protection."
Danger zones
As far as danger around the house, the survey ranks it this way:
- the kitchen (21 percent of accidents around the home happen here)
- the living room (17 percent)
- the bathroom (16 percent)
- the driveway (10 percent)
- the bedroom (8 percent)
SquareTrade, of course, would like to sell you an insurance policy to cover your phone or other device. Considerations before making such a purchase should be how much you paid for the phone and what the replacement cost would be, what exclusions or deductibles are included in the policy, and how careful you tend to be.
Keeping your phone out of the kitchen, it appears, greatly improves your odds.
How they voted
Yes
Yes