Performance issues and high failure rates continue to plague iPhones

We reported back in August that failure rates of iOS devices had overtaken those of Android for the first time.

The latest State of Mobile Device Performance and Health report from Blancco Technology Group shows that this trend is continuing with the iOS failure rate at 62 percent in the final quarter of last year.

The iPhone 6 has been the worst performing iOS device consecutively for four quarters with the highest failure rate compared to other models -- 25 percent in Q1 2016, 29 percent in Q2 2016, 13 percent in Q3 2016 and 15 percent in Q4 2016.

The newest iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus models aren't exempt from problems though, both making the list of iOS devices with high failure rates in Q4 2016, at three percent each.

Crashing apps, overheating and headphone malfunctions have persistently plagued iPhones in the last year. The most popular social media apps, Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat have all repeatedly crashed on iPhones in the last year.

Android devices meanwhile failed less and have shown signs of improvement over time, with the failure rate decreasing by almost half from 85 percent in Q4 2015 to 44 percent in Q1 2016, 35 percent in Q2 2016, and rising a little to 47 percent in Q4.

Camera, battery charge and USB glitches have been a constant source of problems for Android users. Samsung has consistently had the highest failure rate among Android manufacturers for the past five quarters, although its failure rate has fallen from 43 percent in the first quarter of 2016 to 16 percent in Q4.

"When devices lag, crash or stop working altogether, one of the first things users do is head into their mobile carriers or the device manufacturers themselves to diagnose what’s causing the problem -- and fix it quickly and efficiently," says Richard Stiennon, chief strategy officer at Blancco Technology Group. "Mobile network operators and device manufacturers refer to this as the post-sales customer service and repair experience -- and speed and efficiency are two of the most critical aspects of this experience. But without an easy-to-use, robust diagnostics solution, mobile users are often left frustrated with long processing times and inaccurate diagnoses, which in turn, leads to lower Net Promoter Scores and unnecessary returns for mobile network operators and device manufacturers."

You can find out more about the results in the full report on the Blancco website.

Photo Credit: Ana de Sousa/Shutterstock