The competition between Android devices and other smartphones isn’t something new. A study by WDS now adds more fuel to this competition by reporting that devices that run on Android are likely to develop hardware faults than their smartphone rivals.
This study which was conducted over a period of one year with more than 6 million technical support calls found out that this greater probability for hardware faults is an indication of the platform’s fragmentation across a broad range of OEMs. WDS says it received 14 percent of all technical support calls for Android devices related to hardware faults compared to only just 3.7 percent for RIM BlackBerry, 8 percent for iPhones (iOS) and 9 percent for Windows Phone 7 devices.
The study discovered that cases of hardware glitches differed among OEM deployments, with some brands showing a propensity to display faults, others to keypad or button failures and some to microphone and battery issues. The company opines that their findings bring forth the need for mobile operators to consider the total cost of ownership, which involves support and potential reverse logistics costs instead of only the unit price of the device when ranging product.
“Android has been instrumental in bringing smartphone technology into the mass-market. The maturation of the industry, availability of hardware components and a reduction in manufacturing costs has seen some OEMs drop the price of Android smartphones below US$100,” explains Craig Rich, Chief Marketing Officer at WDS. “However, many of these factors are also driving varying levels of hardware quality into the market, in turn delivering an inconsistent customer experience.”
The support calls mobile operators receive regarding connectivity and service configuration differ from hardware failures which can’t be typically resolved by Customer Service Representatives. Rather they increase the cost by entering the returns and repair channel.
“Mobile operators have to make important decisions when selecting which smartphones to range on their networks. They must balance the need to introduce low-cost smartphone devices with the Total Cost of Ownership; a $100 smartphone might not look so attractive if it drives x3 more support cost over its lifetime or has an above-average return rate that impacts customer loyalty,” concludes Rich.
This study was conducted between June 2010 and May 2011 and the calls were received by WDS across the continents of Europe, North America, South Africa and Australia.