Smartphone Warranty: Comparisons and Benefits

Like with many other high-value products, the purchase of a new smartphone often comes with the option to purchase an additional protection plan like an extended warranty. Should you be purchasing this warranty, and if not, how can you ensure your smartphone is protected from some basic risks moving forward?

At FixIT Mobile, we’re happy to offer a variety of phone repair services for all varieties of iPhone and Android phones, and have helped numerous customers understand and deal with their phone’s warranty coverage. How does an extended phone warranty compare to other types of phone coverage, and what are some of the pros and cons of extended warranties for a new smartphone? This two-part blog series will investigate.

Extended Warranty Vs. Other Coverage Types

First off, let’s lay out the basics of what a phone’s extended warranty covers while comparing it to a couple other similar coverage types:

• Extended warranty: There’s no special meaning behind this name – an extended warranty simply extends the original manufacturer warranty by some period of time. Whatever is covered under this original warranty will be covered under the new one. In most cases, this refers only to areas like defects or device malfunctions, not issues like cracked screens, water damage or those caused by the client.

• Phone insurance: For those who want additional coverage for accidental damage, handling and related areas, phone insurance is the way to go. It’s more expensive than an extended warranty in most cases, but also makes certain kinds of repairs or replacements far cheaper if they do ever become necessary.

• Device protection plan: And for those who truly want to go all-out here, a device protection plan goes even further than phone insurance. It covers all accidents and damage types, plus tends to include extras like tech support, additional cloud storage and more. It’s usually offered by mobile carriers.

Our next couple sections will go over the value of an extended warranty for those who purchase one.

Defects Do Happen

As we mentioned above, the primary purpose of an extended warranty is to cover manufacturer defects and device malfunctions. And while you may not necessarily assume it in the year 2020, it’s important to know that such defects absolutely still happen – and, in fact, are probably more common than you were aware. Covering yourself in case of this sort of issue generally isn’t expensive, and will be well worth it if this kind of problem crops up.

Beyond Manufacturer Warranty

Relatedly, some of these manufacturer issues won’t show up immediately. There are some where the phone may operate normally for a period of time, then only begin to show defects later. For these cases, it pays to have an extended warranty that goes well past the original.

For more on the benefits of a cell phone extended warranty, or to learn about any of our phone repair, tablet repair, laptop repair or other device repair services, speak to the staff at FixIT Mobile today.