A study released last week by an electronics warranty service provider estimated that Americans have spent $5.9 billion on iPhone repairs since the first release in 2007.
SquareTrade surveyed more than 2,000 iPhone users and then combined the cost of repairs, replacements and insurance deductibles for broken iPhones.
Younger iPhone users are more likely to damage their phones, according to the study. Half of iPhone users under 35 have had an accident.
Addie Alter, an 18-year-old nursing freshman, is among them. She has damaged her iPhone three times.
Each time, Alter chose to get the phone repaired, which has cost her more than $200 total.
“I would freak out,” she said. “It stressed me out the entire day. I just needed to get it fixed even if it cost money.”
Instead of visiting an Apple store to repair her phone, Alter used the iHospital above Pita Pit in the UF Plaza. Alter said she chose to go there because it was cheaper and more convenient, and because there is no Apple store in Gainesville.
The study found that the need for iPhone repairs most often results from being dropped. Immersing iPhones in liquid came in at No. 2.
iHospital Mac surgeon James Franklin Baldwin said about 80 percent of customers are students. He said the top reasons for iPhone repair visits are cracked screens, which typically cost about $120 to fix, and water damage, which costs about $50.
Baldwin said he wasn’t surprised by the survey results.
“No time before now have people had pieces of glass in their pockets all the time,” he said.
