Despite the growing number of brands, not all smartphones have the same resistance to breakdowns.
Choosing a smartphone is not an easy task. You have to take into account your budget, the performance of the device, its new features compared to the previous generation… But also its resistance! Many consumers forget this essential fact when making a purchase, but a smartphone – however perfect it may be – is of no use if it ends up lagging or even breaking down at the slightest effort.
This is why the members of the Which? site, which studies several tech devices each month, looked into an essential question: who are the good and the bad students in terms of smartphone breakdowns? Which brands are recommended? Which manufacturers should you avoid?
To answer this question, the experts from the Which? analyzed a set of more than 15,600 smartphones from 14 recognized brands. There we find references like Apple, Samsung, Nokia and even Huawei. Some less recognized brands were also included in this giant test, such as Doro, which specializes in smartphones for the elderly, and Alcatel Mobile and Nokia. The site specifies that these results come from surveys carried out among members as well as visitors to the site based on their experiences.
The results of the study are quite surprising and point the finger at two brands in particular: Sony and Huawei which would be the least reliable over time by displaying the most problems (29% and 31% breakdowns respectively) after six years of use.
Conversely, the good students seem to be on the side of OnePlus, Realme and Google for whom only 11% of breakdowns were reported over the same period. The most frequently observed failure is, without too many surprises, a problem with the phone battery. These components cannot last forever and tend to wear out after a few years of use.
In the case of the study, the battery was responsible for 29% of the reported failures which could be due to charging problems as well as a drastic drop in autonomy. Other problems noted are slowness, system crashes and problems related to device updates.
The experts at Which? emphasize one point in particular: the breakdown rate is almost zero in the first three years of life of each device. But a problem was quickly observed: the lack of security updates can quickly trigger outages more quickly than expected. It is therefore essential to keep your smartphone up to date, especially since the majority of manufacturers today offer at least five years of support for their devices.
