Americans spend more time and money on their smartphones than ever before, with mobile handsets becoming a primary mode of functioning in users’ daily lives.
Many have turned to their already costly iPhones, Galaxy, and OnePlus devices for tasks including entertainment, fitness, and finance, on top of communication as the latest models have become packed with features. Users have indicated that they prefer to invest the money for repairs or replacements to keep connected to their smartphones.
Allstate Protection Plans shared in its latest Mobile Mythconceptions Surveys that 49 percent of American smartphone owners note spending more time on their devices than the prior year. Users say they spend five hours or more handling their mobile devices, and they are quickly replacing cameras and televisions. A hearty 82 percent of those surveyed favor their smartphone instead of a stand-alone digital camera, with 39 percent taking at least six photos daily, and 31 percent shooting six videos daily. Surveyors also indicated preferring to consume entertainment such as videos, TV shows, and movies on their smartphones than on TV at a rate of 54 percent.
Users indicated a desire to have their smartphones repaired within a day of being damaged to swiftly return to their usual routines. Thirty-six percent of smartphone users said they would wait one day or less to repair broken buttons on a mobile device, 30 percent would wait to repair damaged speakers, 29 percent to repair broken microphones, 27 percent would wait to repair cracked screens, and 22 would wait to repair broken cameras.
The figures for smartphone screen repairs have also drastically increased within the last three years, to $8.3 billion in 2023 from $3.4 billion in 2018. According to the surveys, the average cost for smartphone repair or replacement is now $302, while device owners believe it to be $150 or less. Owners have spent a collective $149 billion on repairing and replacing mobile devices since the inception of smartphones, while flagship models can range between $800 and $1300 in price, depending on the brand.
However, not everyone is quick to shell out money to replace a damaged smartphone, with 39 percent of surveyors indicating cost as a hindrance, 21 percent stating time and a reason, 15 percent saying they would prefer to wait to upgrade to a new device, and 12 percent indicating sustainability concerns.
While device repair and replacement prices might be on the rise, Americans are becoming more savvier about taking care of their smartphones with users reporting fewer damaged devices in recent years. Seventy-eight million smartphone users have reported damage to their mobile devices in the last 12 months, which is down from 87 million around the same time in 2020.
Owners’ interest in sustainability and environmental impact also affects what they do with smartphones once they are finished using them as a daily driver. Forty percent of smartphone users report keeping an old device as a backup, 35 say they’ve traded in a device for a new model, 27 percent say they’ve recycled old devices, 22 percent say they’ve given old devices to friends and family, 19 percent say they’ve sold old devices, and 14 percent say they’ve thrown old devices away. Thirty-eight percent of surveyors indicated that they would buy a refurbished smartphone, with 35 percent saying they would do so to prompt a sustainable future.
