In the latest Blancco Mobile Device Performance and Health Report for Q1 2017, Android has once again beaten Apple iOS as the most reliable mobile operating system. This marks a full year of dominance for Android, as it continues to improve on failings which plagued it in the past.
The report shows that iPhone 7 and 7 Plus models are two of the worst performing Apple devices. The iPhone 7’s failure rate has increased from 3 percent in Q4 2016 to 10 percent, while the iPhone 7 Plus’ failure rate has also increased from 3 percent in Q4 2016 to 11 percent in Q1 2017. Apps crashed almost three times more on iPhones (50 percent) than they did on Android devices (18 percent), however overall crashed rates have decreased slightly since this time last year. Overheating was also a common issue for iPhone users, with 3 percent experiencing crashes because of this.
Results usher what we saw in the previous report; iOS users struggle with general apps while Android users struggle with system-level apps. Culprits for crashing handsets greatly differ depending on the operating system used. iOS users are most effected by social media app crashes like Facebook and Instagram, while Android users face more systematic problems. The top crashing app for Android was IMS Service, a data logging background application used in conjunction with the dialer. It ships primarily on Samsung handsets. This leads us to believe that hardware optimisation is better on Apple devices, while software optimisation is superior on Android.
Samsung, LG and Motorola are the worst performing Android manufacturers, with Samsung Galaxy S7 and Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge plagued by high failure rates. In Q1 2017, the Samsung Galaxy S7 ranked as the worst performing Android device with the highest failure rate (9 percent), followed by Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge (8 percent) and Samsung Galaxy S5 (5 percent). It’s worth noting that Samsung, LG and Motorola are all big manufacturers who ship lots of devices, so failure rates are likely to be higher than smaller OEM companies. In fact, the entire top 10 is comprised entirely of large manufacturers with a bigger install base and thus, higher failure rates.