Which mobile phone brands develop the most faults?
Battery problems, crashes, and poor performance are all issues that smartphone owners notice with their devices over time.
New Which? data, based on the ownership of over 15,000 smartphones purchased in the last seven years, reveals which phone brands develop the most faults and how quickly these can happen.
Fortunately, many of these can be fixed - either for free, or for a small cost. Read on to find out more.
Check our guide to the best smartphones for 2023 to see which models impressed in our tough lab tests.
The best and worst mobile phone brands for faults
As you can see from the table below, smartphone brands differ a fair bit when it comes to chances of developing a fault over the first few years – and it might surprise you to see where the most popular brands, Samsung and Apple, are placed.
| Mobile phone brand | Developed a fault after one year of ownership | Developed a fault after three years of ownership | Developed a fault after six years of ownership |
| Realme (87) | 2% | 5% | 6% |
| Motorola (909) | 3% | 12% | 14% |
| Apple (6954) | 4% | 8% | 10% |
| OnePlus (196) | 4% | 8% | 11% |
| Samsung (5166) | 4% | 9% | 11% |
| Google (472) | 5% | 9% | 9% |
| Honor (88) | 5% | 11% | 12% |
Table notes Results are based on a survey of 15,552 smartphones owned by Which? members and members of the public. Sample sizes shown in brackets after the brand. The phones were purchased between 2016 and 2023. Research conducted in March 2023.
HTC and Nokia phones developed the most faults after six years of ownership, out of those surveyed above. Concerningly, 13% of Nokia phones developed the fault in the first year of ownership.
On the other hand, the brand that developed the least faults were Realme and Oppo, with just 6% of faults being developed within six years. With Oppo releasing five handsets in the last year, they might be a brand worth considering. Realme doesn't release as many, but they're clearly reliable to not develop faults.
Samsung, Apple and Google are the most popular brands on the market, but they are middle of the road among their competitors for the number of faults they develop, with around 1 in 10 developing in six years.
However, only 9% of faults affect smartphones overall within three years of owning one, so there's not too much to worry about when it comes to a phone's hardware if you want to keep it for longer.
You can filter our mobile phone reviews by brand, to see how each model in the range scored in our tests.
What are the most common faults in mobile phones?
1. Battery problems (37%)
Without question, the biggest problems affecting smartphones are battery related. This includes instances of phones losing charge quickly, but the most common are reports of the battery life getting significantly worse over a short period of time – representing 28% of all faults that were reported.
On the whole, battery life on phones is improving. But if you notice it getting worse, there are some things you can do to help. Turn off your WiFi and mobile data when you're not using it, turn on airplane mode, or dim the brightness of the screen to help in the short term. If your battery is still too poor to bear, consider buying a replacement battery instead of upgrading the whole handset. Find out prices and more in our guide on mobile phone repair.
2. Slow and sluggish phones (9%)
The second most common fault to develop in phones is experiencing them becoming slow or sluggish over time.
The easiest way to stop this is to restart your phone every few days to clear the memory and any apps that are running in the background. Also, avoid installing lots of apps and uninstall any you don't use. You should also install software updates regularly and as soon as they're available – as well as important security patches and bug fixes, these often include optimisations to help your phone run more smoothly.
3. Phone freezes (6%)
The third most common fault from our survey is phones freezing, though the chances are still pretty low with only 6% of smartphone owners experiencing this.
If this happens, force a restart according to the manufacturer's instructions. If it keeps happening, try freeing up some of your phone's memory by deleting apps, pictures and videos you don't want to keep. Or add a micro-SD card to expand the memory on your phone (if your phone is compatible with one). If this doesn't work, you may need to factory reset your phone as a last resort.
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4. Device crashing (6%)
Only 6% of respondents had their smartphone crash.
Similar to when your phone feels slow, try restarting your phone and uninstall apps you don't need. Make sure apps are regularly updated too. You can turn on auto-update in the app store so you don't have to check if updates are available manually.
5. Cracked screen (6%)
Lots of us worry about smashing our screens when dropping an expensive phone, and though it's not a fault as such, 6% of survey respondents found that this happened to them. If you're concerned, use a case to help protect your smartphone from the odd drop.
Cracked screens are generally a more expensive problem to fix, but if you shop around you should be able to find a good deal. Check out prices and more advice in our mobile phone screen repair guide.
Looking to save money? See what's on offer in the best iPhone deals and best mobile phone sales.
Which faults aren't as common?
Worried about losing your photos or messages? Our survey data suggests there's no reason to be with less than 1% reporting these problems. Instances of software update problems came in at 4%, phones overheating at 1%, and speaker failure at 1%.
Find out the full survey results including customer satisfaction scores and more in our guide on which mobile phone brand to buy.
What else should I consider when buying a mobile phone?
With only 11% of smartphones developing faults across six years, Which? data suggests we could be keeping our phones for a lot longer than most phone contracts. However, though the hardware may last, most of the time important security updates are not given to smartphones for long enough to keep using them safely.
Security updates are important to help prevent hackers exploiting vulnerabilities in a phone's software. The longer a phone is without security patches, the higher the risk becomes. The best manufacturers support phones for at least five years from the phone's initial release date. This includes Apple, and some Samsung and Google phones. The worst only support some handsets for two years. Find out when your phone is expected to lose security updates in our guide to mobile phone security.
With fault counts being so low for smartphones, buying an older, second-hand phone could save you money on your next handset with little compromise. Just make sure you choose one of the strongest smartphone brands above for a reduced risk of developing faults, and a brand with a good security support period. Find out more in our guide to buying a second-hand phone.
Which? surveyed over 15,000 Which? members and members of the public in March 2023 about their experience with tech products, so we can help you choose which brands to buy. Find out about the best brands for mobile phones, laptops and more in our guides below.
