The staggering cost of repairing a damaged phone

Our carelessness can be a real wallet-buster. The cost of screen repairs alone nearly tripled to $8.3 billion in 2023 from $3.4 billion in 2018, Allstate says.

And that can add up quickly. Americans have shelled out $149 billion on smartphone repairs and replacements since the debut of the iPhone in 2007.

The average cost for repairs and replacements is spendy – $302 a pop – and doesn’t sit right with smartphone owners who underestimate how much it will cost. Nearly half – 47% – of Americans think fixing or swapping phones should cost about half that.

So more of us are putting off repairs and putting up with broken phones.

Nearly half of Americans say they would not fix a damaged smartphone that still functions. The top reason for putting off repairs: 39% said they can’t afford to fix their phone.

“Travel bloggers don’t make a ton of money, so I’ve just dealt with working on a cracked phone screen until I was eligible for a phone upgrade,” said Blodgett, who is thanking her lucky stars she bought insurance through Verizon before her phone’s fall.

“I’ve never taken my phone to get repaired but plan to do so for this brand-new phone.”

Why do phone repairs cost so much?

In an age when we spend more on our devices whose life spans are shorter than ever, Kyle Wiens blames Big Tech, which has rigged the repair system against us, he says. He runs iFixit, which sells parts, tools and repair guides.

This Aug. 26, 2015 photo shows an Apple iPhone with a cracked screen after a drop test from the DropBot, a robot used to measure the sustainability of a phone to dropping, at the offices of SquareTrade in San Francisco.

The right-to-repair movement – which is working to make companies like Apple provide consumers with the parts, tools and technical know-how to repair their own devices – is slowly spreading across the country despite opposition from major tech companies.

Oregon this week became the fourth state to pass legislation granting consumers the legal right to fix their gadgets, requiring manufacturers to give them the tools they need.

“I think people treat their phones reasonably carefully," Wiens said. "But it's an object made out of glass that you take in and out of your pocket 30 times a day. Of course, accidents will happen.

“I think the question is why they aren't easier and cheaper to fix.”

Chips, scratches: Why we aren't more careful with our phones

But until that happens, shouldn’t we be more kid gloves than all thumbs?

Research shows our carelessness is sometimes unconscious, like when we accidentally damage our phone to have an excuse to buy a newly released model.

But mostly it's just that our phones have become such an integral part of our lives, says Kristen Duke, assistant professor of marketing at the University of Toronto.

“They no longer feel like expensive, fragile devices we have to protect," Duke said. "They just feel like part of our own bodies. We carry them everywhere we go.”

Our nonstop usage and growing numbness to their fragility mean "smartphones end up dropped, banged, smashed, and squished,” she said.

Last week, while walking across the University of Texas at Austin campus, Adrian Ward, an associate professor of marketing, noticed that the vast majority of students had their phones in their hands, not in their pockets or backpacks.

“All of our phones have chips and scratches and bad battery life just because we use them so much,” he said. “I don’t think it’s evidence of lack of care. If anything it’s the opposite. It’s evidence of our inability to be away from our phones.”