Are iPhones More Defective?

I was at M1 Shop yesterday, and noted at the service/repair counter, all the four customers being attended to at that time were all having problems with their iPhones. That included me (the wife’s iPhone was also having a hardware problem). I wasn’t quite monitoring the counter all the while, but I did notice other iPhones being attended to before our turn.

So I’m just wondering, did M1 sell an overwhelming number of iPhones than any other brand of phones all put together (and hence explaining the sheer number of iPhone problems encountered), or, is the iPhone more prone to problems than any other brand of phones?

A quick Google search does reveal that, at least elsewhere in the world, Blackberries fare a whole lot worse than iPhones. An interesting study by SquareTrade did find that the iPhone 4 to be most reliable (i.e. free from manufacturing defects), but at the same time, also the most prone to accidental damage.

I wonder if all the iPhones being seen at the M1 counter were accidentally damaged. Ours wasn’t. But I eavesdropped on the case next to us, and heard that iPhone had apparently suffered water damage… as told by the Water Contact Indicator hidden inside the headphone connector and dock connector.

It seems water damage must be so common that M1 had pasted several copies of a notice (photo above) about water damage, and lack of warranty thereof, all over their counter. I think, Apple is probably the only manufacturer that puts water contact indicators in their products. Seems like a very quick way to decline warranty cover.

But about the water damaged iPhone case above: After a long story about how water damage is not covered by warranty, and how much it will cost to repair/replace, in the end M1 still swapped the phone for free. Googling around, it seems that Apple often still does offer free replacement of iPhones with tripped Water Contact Indicators.

Nice. Except that it was a 2 hour wait to be served.