The majority of consumers are encountering problems with their smartphones recently, with some growing frustrated with their operators, according to research by Ovum and Cellebrite.
The research found 68 percent of consumers had experienced an issue with their smartphone in the last year.
Additionally, 12 percent of those who had turned to their operators for help with the issue claimed they would buy their next device elsewhere due to poor customer service experience. 25 percent of users who planned to change providers cited customer service as the main reason.
The survey also found that the number of software-related issues on smartphones has risen to 40 percent of the total faults, which may trouble operators as this is an element they cannot control.
The findings from this study reveal the extent of the challenge facing mobile operators: a sizable percentage of consumers are growing frustrated with their mobile service providers after experiencing problems that are completely outside of the operators’ control," said Angel Dobardziev and Michael Philpott, who co-authored the report.
They added: "While hardware and operating system faults have stabilised, software-related or ‘soft’ faults, caused by such issues as malware-laden and faulty applications, have increased four-fold, leading to increased customer service costs and affecting customer satisfaction."
The findings were based on a survey of over 4,000 consumers in the US, UK, China and Germany and interviews with executives of 6 mobile operators in these markets.
