In 2015, worldwide smartphone shipments hit record levels, surpassing 1.4 billion for the year. And there is certainly no shortage of smartphone manufacturers and models to choose from: Apple just launched its iPhone 5SE—a slightly smaller and cheaper version of the iPhone 5s—and Samsung released its new Galaxy S7 smartphone.
As much as these devices are beloved by users—and are huge revenue generators for manufacturers and carriers—they are far from perfect and will experience performance issues at some point or another. Blancco Technology Group recently analyzed internal data collected from millions of smartphones and tablets that underwent diagnostics testing in the fourth quarter of 2015 and what we found was surprising.
When we looked at the types of issues found on devices worldwide, camera (10 percent), touch (9 percent), battery charging (8 percent), microphone (6 percent) and performance (6 percent) were ranked as the top five. But, from my experience providing mobile diagnostics for wireless carriers and device manufacturers, I know these types of issues are rarely caused by hardware and can often be connected back to user behavior.
For example, the issues related to battery charging and performance are not automatically an indication of poorly designed or built hardware. It’s quite the contrary, actually. Instead, it’s highly likely that the issue occurred because too many apps were running in the background. In these instances, this type of ‘app overload’ can eat into the device’s resources, including the memory, performance and battery.
As the time spent on mobile continues to grow, the quantity and types of apps that are used and running in the background will eat into the performance, memory and battery life. And all the while, users presume hardware is to blame when behavior is actually the culprit. It’s a paradoxical situation that happens very often. In the U.S. and Europe, nearly three-out-of-four mobile devices returned to mobile network operators and manufacturers showed to have ‘no fault found’ (NTF). When you calculate the cost of accepting these ‘NTF’ devices—an average of $50 to $100 per device—that amounts to millions of dollars spent unnecessarily by mobile network operators and device manufacturers during that period.
These findings suggest customer service staff and repair specialists are not being given the necessary diagnostics training or tools to properly diagnose—and repair—device issues. It’s a fact, and one that we’ve heard many mobile carriers and device manufacturers tell us. If it were not the case, then their churn rates would be much lower. And they probably wouldn’t spend so much money on ‘feel good’ marketing and advertising initiatives to convince users they can deliver on the promise of the post-sales customer experience.
As our global survey of more than 1,400 mobile users also found, 31 percent of mobile users experience issues—real or self-induced—with their devices at least once a month and as often as several times a year. When that happens, 49 percent will seek help within the first three days. And, if a proper diagnosis of issues is not made and the customer service and repair experience are not effective, mobile users will switch to a different carrier and/or device manufacturer.
This is why having the right tools to detect with certainty the causes and types of device problems and determine if it’s fixable is extremely valuable for mobile carriers and OEMs. It can help them track common device problems and device usage patterns, then use those insights to improve the design of future products, optimize performance long-term and boost customer loyalty. For mobile network operators and manufacturers, these tools allow them to automate and scale the device diagnostics and repair process to deliver a consistent customer experience, while enterprise businesses can support the needs and productivity of their mobile workforce.
Pat Clawson is CEO of Blancco Technology Group, a provider of mobile device diagnostics and secure data erasure solutions.
