15 Million American Households Have Damaged a Device During the Holidays

SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 18, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- SquareTrade^®, the #1-rated protection plan trusted by millions of happy customers, today released the results of a consumer survey about holiday device damage.

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20131118/SF18519-INFO)

American households are particularly accident-prone with their devices during the holiday season. According to SquareTrade's Holiday Survey[1]:

• 1 in 8 households in America have damaged a laptop, phone, camera or tablet during the holidays,
• 35% of devices damaged during the holidays were mobile phones,
• Nearly twice as many iPhones were reported damaged during the holidays as Samsung smartphones, and
• 51% of damages during the holiday season is attributed to holiday activities
  • traveling (22%)
  • shopping (12%)
  • cooking (10%)
  • decorating (7%)

"It's tough to be a device during the holidays - we were surprised to find that more than half of accidents were attributed to activities like traveling, holiday shopping, cooking and decorating," said Ty Shay, SquareTrade's CMO. "Retailers are expecting sales of over $640 billion[2] during this year's holiday shopping season, and no doubt much of that will go towards gifting high-tech devices like smartphones, tablets and game consoles – fragile and high priced items that apparently need extra safeguarding during the holidays."

About SquareTrade

SquareTrade is the top-rated protection plan trusted by millions of happy customers for its fast and exceptional service. SquareTrade protects mobile devices, laptops and tablets, and other consumer electronics and appliances from malfunctions, accidental damage and life's frequent mishaps. Unlike old-fashioned warranties, SquareTrade is designed for today's consumer and uses innovative technology to deliver a zero hassle claims process. SquareTrade has more than 200,000 fans on Facebook, consistently wins industry awards and receives thousands of 5-star reviews for its legendary customer service. Top retailers around the world offer SquareTrade, achieving significant sales growth and happier customers. Privately held, SquareTrade's investors include Bain Capital and Bain Capital Ventures. SquareTrade is headquartered in San Francisco and London. For more information, go to www.squaretrade.com.

SquareTrade is a registered trademark of SquareTrade, Inc. iPhone is a registered trademark of Apple Inc. Samsung is a registered trademark of Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.  All other company, brand and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners. 

[1] Methodology and Data Sources
1) SquareTrade's 2013 Holiday Pulse Surveys, conducted in September 2013 using Google Consumer Surveys. Feedback was collected from a total of 1,609 online consumers. 2) The Census Bureau's 2011 number of households estimate and 2012 estimated US population. Please note: Number of American household and number of Americans estimates created using data sources 1 & 2.

[2] Source: National Retail Federation

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SOURCE SquareTrade