iOS might be the “world’s most advanced mobile operating system,” according to Apple, but it isn’t the most reliable, according to a new study.
New data shows that iPhone’s “performance issues and high failure rates” over the last year make Android more stable. iPhone 6 and iPhone 6s are said to be two of the worst-performing Apple handsets.
Android still gets criticized for being insecure and unreliable, but with the significant improvements Google made in recent years, that’s no longer the case. This is proven by the latest State of Mobile Device Performance and Health report from Blancco, a trusted security firm certified and recommended by 18 national and international governing bodies.
Blancco’s State of Mobile Device Performance and Health report is published every quarter based on data obtained from its own diagnostics platforms. “The information contained in this report is based on internal data collected from millions of iOS and Android smartphones and tablets that underwent diagnostics testing on our platform in North America, Europe and Asia during the fourth quarter of 2016 (Q4 2016),” Blancco says in an introduction to the study’s results.
iPhone failure rate rises
Blancco’s “failure rate” stats took into account problems with hardware as well as software, including the reliability of third-party apps developed for the two platforms.
While Android’s failure rate has improved over time — from 85 percent in Q4 2015 and 44 percent in Q1 2016 to 35 percent in Q2 2016 — iPhone’s has been rising. In Q4 2015, the failure rate of iOS was just 15 percent. But as of Q4 2016, it stands at a staggering 62 percent.
iPhone 6 has been the worst-performing handset for four consecutive quarters, but iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus “aren’t exempt from problems,” Blancco says. Crashing apps, overheating and headphone malfunctions are the most common issues among iPhone users.
Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat — three of the most popular social media apps — were discovered to be some of the most unreliable apps on iPhone last year, with users plagued by frequent crashes.
On Android, the most common problems were related to the camera, USB port and carrier signal glitches. Samsung devices have suffered the highest failure rate among Android devices for five quarters in a row, but Samsung’s rate was still significantly lower than iPhone’s (16 percent) during Q4 2016.
Blancco’s Repair Mobile Diagnostics Solution, which supports Android and iOS, helps businesses identify problems with smartphones and tablets before they get resold on the second-hand market.
Killian Bell is a freelance writer based in the U.K. He has an interest in all things tech and also covers Android over at CultofAndroid.com. You can follow him on Twitter via @killianbell.
33 responses to “iPhone’s high ‘failure rate’ gives Android the edge on reliability”
Hmmm. According to Blancco’s website, they diagnose “29,000 phones daily”. That’s an awfully small sample size if that’s what their report is based on. How many iPhone 7s are in the mix? What OS are they running? As the saying goes, figures lie and liars figure.
If you think 29,000 is automatically an ‘awfully small sample size’ (because the population being sampled is in the millions, I presume?), you don’t understand the science of statistics.
You’re trying really hard to make an excuse for Apple.
If this was the other way around you’d be singing an entirely different song.
Calling out a questionable report makes me an Apple fan? OK. Based on that logic, that makes you a rabid Android fan vainly attempting to defend Android with personal attacks. Get real.
Questionable report? This company has been making these reports for years. And because since for ever Android was the worst in these reports its was totally fine. The moment iOS becomes worst its questionable? They are a worldwide company with very clean record and are trusted for some serious data work by tons of governments.
You only call it questionable because it doesn’t go in your favour.
Why is it questionable? Why is it hard to believe or accept the fact that the iPhone and iOS isn’t the great combo you think it is?
If this report was about the iPhone being better you wouldn’t call it questionable, you’d accept it and defend the findings.
Besides, this is old news, reported for years already that iOS and iOS apps crash and freeze way more often than Android.
If you want, I’ll post links from years back.
The entire basis of your replies is based on your assumption that I’m an apple fanboi. You attempt to discredit based on that alone and it weakens your position severely. I’m tired of arguing with people who won’t look at things critically instead of through rose-colored glasses.
The sample size of this report is small. There’s no getting around that. MANY organizations generate traffic by marketing negative Apple materials. Think about why that is. This is a piece designed to generate traffic to the organization which they hope will result in more money for them. In short, it’s a marketing ploy and any conclusions the report makes need to be examined thoroughly and not taken at face value. That’s the only point I’m trying to make.
And while your digging up your old links (that are very likely no longer relevant to this discussion or need to be coupled with comparable data for Android) be sure and include links to customer satisfaction reports for both platforms. Last I checked iOS dominated those reports.
I’ve used both platforms. The company I work for develops apps for both platforms and I’m involved in that. Developing for Android is very difficult, and while iOS is easier, it has its warts too. But in the end I use iOS as my personal phone because it just works (and I dislike being a marketing statistic for a marketing company–the entire basis for the Android OS).
You guys have fun with your biases and narrow viewpoints. I’m out.
29.000 PER DAY IS SMALL? You fucking kidding me? The national polls for elections that have 3-5% wrong rates use less than that.
Yes, but not all people vote so eat size can be much smaller. Last election we had 58% of people voting. However, according to Pew Research, 91% of adults own a cell phone, and that does not include the number of people under the age of majority.
Your craniorectal insertion is reversible, you know.
29,000 a day is actually a pretty huge number in comparison to most other “statistics” out there.
CLICKBAIT.
This entire report is absolute bullsh1t:
– Apps that fail is because of their code, or poor, improper use of iOS SDK
– Sandboxing (security) on iOS is unrivaled, and necessary for social media
– Android (WHICH ONE), there are dozens and dozens of releases… all seriously flawed
Sorry, this FAKENEWS and click-baiting cheapens your usually-superb website.
If the report was in Apple’s favor you would ask no questions.
It’s not always the fault of app developers. Apps can crash because the system runs out of memory, and that was a big issue on the iPhone 6 generation in particular because Apple added 64-bit support and higher resolution screens, both features that use a lot more memory, without upgrading the amount of RAM since the iPhone 5. Those phones just plain didn’t have enough RAM. Also, sometimes Apple’s APIs have bugs that can cause apps to crash through no fault of the app developer. As a developer myself, I have had to work around many bugs in Apple’s APIs.
Didn’t the iPhone 6s get the RAM upgrade – from 1G to 2G?
Also – it would be hard to complain about the iPhone 7 hedpphone jack, since it does not have one.
I am unsure what the story is supposed to be about. If it is hardware, then compare Apple vs Samsung vs HTC vs Moto. If it is OS then you have iOS vs Droid vs Windows, and then you would have to break down which version of the OS which is being tested. None of this in enumerated in the story. And there is no mention of Rooted phones being the culprit of any of these issues anywhere in the story.
If you think an app failure is RELATED only to bad writted app then that first sentence proves how clueless you are. Android was bashed to death cause no matter how good an app was it could fail at any point cause of its “bad” OS code.
Ok, you’ve made the assertion, now back up the claim. So far as I can tell no one taught you the basic understanding that Alike and Equal are not the same concepts.
It’s fake news because it doesn’t go your way?
Apps that crash are never Apple’s fault?
Heck if anything the fact that Android has lower failure rates is a huge achievement on it’s own because of the fact that there are so many different versions. Your effort to make it sound like a negative actually made it a positive.
Fake news
Maybe I be the first –strike that– second to call BS on this whole report?
Why is it BS? Where’s your source to the opposite?
Apparently someones opinion is more credible than a well known credible company that has 29.000 samples per day.
The logic of an Apple or Android fanboy. Is there a bad report? Its bullshit. Is there a good report? Hell year take this Apple/Android!!!
Nah, pretty much everything that Killian post is BS and Android clickbait
“In Q4 2015, the failure rate of iOS was just 15 percent, but as of Q4 2016, it stands at a staggering 62 percent.”
That is a ridiculous statement. There are simply no facts to support this ludicrous belief.
Almost a quarter of a billion iPhones have been sold in the past year worldwide. If there was a tidal wave of iPhone “failures” in MORE THAN 3 out of every 5 iPhones, don’t you think that we would have heard about this???
For reference, only about 1 out of every 20,000 Samsung Note 7 phones exploded, and look at the huge uproar that occurred in the media coverage on that failure!
I know dozens of people including myself who have owned iPhones for years. I should have heard of AT LEAST one person (the actual number based on 62% should be about 15 such people) who had their iPhone “fail”… But there hasn’t been a single one!
Just because Donald Trump gets away with lying (for now) does not mean that others should emulate this very negative trait, and believe that there will be no consequences.
It’s not just complete phone failures they’re talking about. An app crashing is also considered a failure. Most people would just reopen the app if it closed and continue about their business. Surely you’ve seen apps crash on your iPhone. If you haven’t, then you just haven’t been paying attention or didn’t realize what was happening.
This wasnt ONLY for hardware failure. You freaking moron. Did you read the article at all? Its about any kind of failure, app failure, OS failure, hardware failure and more.
I’m just impressed that Cult of Mac is willing to share a news story that is “less than complementary” on Apple. Kudos.
“Crashing apps, overheating and headphone malfunctions are the most common issues among iPhone users. Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat — three of the most popular social media apps — were discovered to be some of the most unreliable apps on iPhone last year, with users plagued by frequent crashes.”
So this is what they meant by fail.
I thought they meant the hardware.
Having just moved from years of using Android to the iPhone last Nov. I’d have to anecdotally disagree. The OS is only 1 piece of the puzzle and even if iOS is a little less dependable (which my experience has shown its not) there’s still the 1) hardware build quality 2) 4+ years of timely iOS updates with features. bug fixes, and vulnerabilities 3) great 3rd party app eco system 4) lack of OS version segmentation 6) … shall I go on? The point is iOS itself is only a part of the equation. I am so glad to be off the Android phone OS update crazy train! Always wondering if and when my phone might get updated to the newest Android version (sometimes never). Maybe in several years if Google sticks with the Pixel phone and irons out that business I might give it a look again. But for now Apple (it) just works for me.
I’m not going to speak to the validity of this report. However, I’m apparently using one of these “unstable” devices which reported has a 62% failure rate. Statistically, I should be experiencing problems. Yet, I’m not. Then again, I’m not a Facebook app user either. I do use my phone extensively and I am not seeing ANY failures at all. Not even simple app crashes. One might also wonder how a platform can supposedly go from 15% to 62% “failure rate” within 1 year. If iOS 10 were known to have significant problems, I might lend some credibility to this. Yet, it doesn’t… nor have I witnessed any such problem. Likewise, I can only conclude that I’m either extremely lucky or there is no validity to this report. Anecdotally, every iPhone user that I know and interact with have a positive experience similar to mine. I guess we’re the lucky 38%??
Okay, I’m not going to say this report is BS, but lumping hardware failures together with app crashes doesn’t exactly produce an informative result. At the very least, hardware and software issues should be separated in their figures. Still, this is yet more evidence in the decline of quality control at Apple in recent years.
I’d like to know the definition of ‘failure’ as it relates to this report.
Why, for example, is a headset failure considered a failure of the phone?
The Facebook app is one of the most poorly written apps* for iOS; why is that an iOS failure?
*just look at your power usage when using that app. It can drain a battery almost as fast as a dead short.