Don’t drop that iPhone!

Listen up, Apple fanboys: You have a right to your own opinion, but not to your own facts. The iPhone 4 has major design flaws, not the least of which is an all-too-breakable glass case and screen. Like it or not, that’s indisputable.

A reputable company called SquareTrade, which makes its living selling warranties on a variety of products, has released data showing that the iPhone 4 is pretty darn fragile. Screens on the new model are nearly twice as likely to break as those of the iPhone 3G S. The data is admittedly from a subset of users, but is based on a sample of 20,000 iPhone 4s covered by the company’s warranty — a very reasonable sample.

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Here are some of the highlights:

• iPhone 4 owners reported 82 percent more damaged screens in the first four months than iPhone 3G S owners do.
• The overall accident rate for iPhone 4s was 68 percent higher than for the iPhone 3G S.
• About 15.5 percent of iPhone 4 owners will report damage within a year of buying their phone. This estimate is based on a straight-line projection of current data, a reasonable statistical technique.

Apple is damaging its brand equity Apple once had a lock on the new generation of smartphones, but not anymore. The fragile-glass flaw is the kind of mistake that’s helping Android steal market share.

What do smart consumers really like about Apple products? In the case of the Mac, it’s the fact that it works so much better than a Windows machine. People, including me, love the iPod because it changed how I listen to music and works so well.

The iPhone, however, doesn’t always work so well. Admittedly, many of its faults can be pinned on AT&T. When I’m not having connectivity problems, I love my iPhone 3G S.

But the iPhone 4 has issues that go beyond AT&T’s overburdened network. Apple made several design choices that haven’t panned out as expected. The external antenna and the glass back made the phone look much cooler; indeed, it’s a beautiful device. However, the nature of the antenna, as we all now know, leads to dropped calls if you hold it the wrong way, and Apple’s handling of the issue was hardly its finest hour.

Which brings me to the glass case — sure, everyone knows that cell phones are somewhat fragile. But accidents do happen, and I don’t think that people shelling out $200 and more for an iPhone are careless klutzes. In fact, anyone who spends extra money for a SquareTrade warranty on top of the included Apple warranty is probably a careful consumer.

I have no patience for the blame-the-messenger, blame-the-consumer invective spewed by the fanboys this week. People expect Apple products to work well. When they don’t, it is news.

As for Apple, this kind of news chips at its quality-oriented brand equity. Are any of us surprised when yet another flaw is discovered in Windows or a Windows PC? No. But most people have been surprised by flaws in Apple’s products. Brand equity is all about expectations, and this steady stream of bad news is starting to make Apple look more like Microsoft.

An obvious problem: Too much fragile glass Figuring out why the iPhone 4 is relatively fragile isn’t rocket science. “The aluminosilicate glass seem to crack at least as often as the old glass, and there is now twice as much surface area to break,” says SquareTrade in a commentary on its findings.

There’s a related screen issue as well: SquareTrade is getting claims about damage to the back of the phone. Some of that, maybe most, results from dropping it. But it appears that dirt trapped underneath a case scratches the phone when the case slides on. In some cases (it’s not clear how many), the scratches turn into cracks, prompting a claim by a warranty holder, says SquareTrade vice president Vince Tseng.

Remember, Apple’s warranty doesn’t cover accidental damage; SquareTrade’s does, which is why people buy it.

It’s also interesting to compare the rate of broken iPhone 4 screens to iPhone 3G S screens: It’s nearly twice as high after one year, a projected 15.5 percent for the iPhone 4 versus an actual 7.8 percent for the 3G S. The difference, of course, is that the back of the earlier model isn’t made of glass.

The good news: iPhones break less than BlackBerrys Before you accuse Tseng and his company of bias, note what else they had to say: “Despite this troubling increase, it’s important to take the accident rate into perspective. Overall, the iPhone is still a very well-constructed device, with a non-accident malfunction rate much lower than most other consumer electronics.”

What’s more, when SquareTrade compared earlier models of the iPhone to other smartphones, “we found iPhones to be far more reliable than BlackBerrys and Palm Treos. It may yet be seen that even with the double glass, the iPhone has an overall failure rate that is still better than the competition.”

Pretty much everything SquareTrade has to say is based on fact. If you want to be as cynical as possible, I suppose you could believe that the company is trying to sell more warranties by cherry-picking statistics to make the phone look more fragile than it really is. I don’t believe that for a minute.

I do believe that facts are facts: Apple made some design mistakes that customers are paying for, and they’re damaging the company’s brand equity.

I welcome your comments, tips, and suggestions. Post them here so that all our readers can share them, or reach me at bill.snyder@sbcglobal.net. Follow me on Twitter at BSnyderSF.

This article, “Don’t drop that iPhone,” was originally published by InfoWorld.com. Read more of Bill Snyder’s Tech’s Bottom Line blog and follow the latest technology business developments at InfoWorld.com.