Apple has a durability (perception) problem

This morning, I found an interesting Canalys report shared by analyst Runar Bjorhovde that shows — despite everything Apple does— people still don’t seem to think iPhones are all that durable. That’s strange, given how much cash Apple spends improving iPhone durability and the device’s reputation as leading second-user markets.

I contacted Bjorhovde to get more insight.

The perception reflected the opinion of more than 8,000 consumers across Europe and shows that while Apple continues to outpace most of the rest of the industry on privacy and security, Samsung over-indexes on durability while Apple seems to score lower than it should. 

Apple has a strong brand value

“Our respondents associate Apple with being [a] reliable brand representing quality design, though being expensive,” Bjorhovde told me by email. “Personally, I think the expensive price perception — and consistently high price tag — is what makes Apple so desirable in many cases through its status.

“Apple’s perhaps greatest benefit compared to its smartphone and PC competitors, is that people have strong opinions about the brand and a clear idea of what it represents,” Bjorhovde said. “Risk aversion amongst buyers can be a massive hurdle for any company seeking to succeed in an establish category.”

But Apple lags when it comes to consumer perception around durability. Here’s the chart that shows the data.

Canalys

Why is this? 

I think Apple is a scapegoat in this perception because of its size and popularity, which means that when an iPhone gets smashed, Apple gets the blame. It is also worth pointing out that Apple was first to market with a modern smartphone back in 2007, and with so much new technology the original device was more prone to breakage than subsequent generations.

The devices were so new and so exciting that everything about them (good and bad) was reported, including screen breakages, which baked in an assumption that they break. The messaging we picked up then were the first impressions of the modern smartphone industry, and those messages stick. The phone cover and case market among iPhone users remains vibrant as a result.

“There are stories going far back around — for example, around reducing battery capacity over time — that might still be holding Apple’s durability perception back,” the analyst said. “Apple has also been subject to fierce opinion pieces and lawsuits towards its repairability, a lot stemming from companies that have a strong stake in the second-hand value of iPhones,” he added. “More than anything, I think the poor durability score is a result of Apple not owning its durability narrative well enough.”

Follow the money

It’s a perception that is amplified in another way, as repair industry stores tend to focus on iPhones in their advertising, reflecting how popular those devices are. This builds the perception of fragility of Apple products. 

iPhones aren’t the only advanced and expensive devices that break. “Even though the most advanced smartphones today are made with space age materials like titanium, Armor Aluminium, and Ceramic Shield screens, they’re still susceptible to damage when dropped on a concrete sidewalk,” Jason Siciliano, vice president of marketing and global creative director at Allstate Protection Plans, said in a statement.

The perception that iPhones break more often remains, though the data also shows that for innovation, privacy and security, the iPhone indexes well, as it does for the camera. So, perhaps it can afford a little misconception around durability.

Like many prejudices, it isn’t completely true

I think Apple should attack this perception head on. It should not be too hard to break it, either, given that iPhone dominates the used-phone markets. People are happy to buy a second-user iPhone because they know their new/old devices will keep working longer — and this extends to durability.

Ask yourself: How could a device that lasts longer be less durable? “The reality is that Apple might be the most criticized vendor in the smartphone industry when it comes to durability,” Bjorhovde said, “but that doesn’t mean that it actually represents reality.”

In 2024, there were 5.14 billion active smartphones, of which 21% were iPhones, standing several percentage points ahead of Apple’s market share of newly sold devices, according to data from Canalys (now part of Omdia). “iPhones have a longer lifetime and more value in the second-hand market than any other brand,”Bjorhovdehe said. 

He pointed out that other vendors like Samsung even “subsidize the trade-in values of their own smartphones to help them match Apple in attractiveness.”

Europe’s other plan

There is one more thing to consider. Europe has yet another idea to attack Apple, this time in the form of its weirdly formulated energy efficiency labelling scheme, which threatens to be inconsistently applied.

Apple generally scores very well, but has been highly critical of the unclear methodology of that scheme. “The EU Energy Labelling regulation has a number of significant ambiguities in the prescribed transitional test methods,” the company said. (The concern is that Europe might use these tests as yet another way to attack US tech.)

“Apple leans towards durability more than most other vendors,” the analyst told me.

Of course, the problem with erroneous beliefs once they do bed in is that they are remarkably hard to shift. But perhaps sharing a few facts will help change perception. 

You can follow me on social media! Join me on BlueSky,  LinkedIn, and Mastodon.