New purchase preferred

High costs discourage smartphone repairs

As many as seven percent do not even think about having their cell phone repaired.(Bild: ©karepa - stock.adobe.com)

One in three people (35%) have had to deal with a faulty smartphone in the past five years, but only 32% of those affected have actually had their faulty device repaired. This was due to the often high costs involved.

This was the result of a representative survey of 1,000 people aged 16 and over in Germany commissioned by the TÜV association. According to the survey, 31 percent did not have their cell phone repaired because they thought it was beyond repair, 30 percent did not have it repaired due to the high costs and seven percent did not even think about having their phone repaired.

"The exception rather than the rule"
"Repairing smartphones is the exception rather than the rule, although this would be a much more sustainable option," commented Juliane Petrich, Policy and Sustainability Officer at the TÜV Association. Consumers are unsure about the costs, reparability and availability of repair services.

According to the survey, 15 percent of respondents with a defective cell phone had the device repaired in a specialist store. One in ten had the repair carried out by or via the manufacturer, while seven percent repaired the device themselves.

Older people keep smartphones longer
The survey also revealed something else: 16% of consumers replace their smartphone after just two years. The majority replace their device after three to four years (35%). As many as 24% use their smartphone for five years or longer and 24% also keep it until it becomes unusable.

However, there are major differences between the generations: While younger people change their smartphones more frequently, older people use them significantly longer. For example, only 17% of 16 to 39-year-olds keep their smartphone until it becomes unusable, compared to an average of 32% of 50 to 75-year-olds.