You don’t know when, but it will happen. A sudden drop to the ground, a spill of liquid, or exposure to extreme heat—one mishap may be enough to damage your precious smartphone to necessitate repair. Or with worse luck, your phone ends up lost or stolen.
Smartphone insurance may seem like an unnecessary expense on top of your standard phone bills. But having one can be a godsend to you as you deal with the aftermath of accidents, especially when the cost of repair or replacement turns out to be astronomical. If you’re still in doubt, these should convince you that protecting your devices with insurance is financially wiser and cheaper in the long run:
Smartphone manufacturers only offer limited warranty
Your smartphone has very limited protection when you only pay for the unit alone. For starters, you can take advantage of the exchange policy (as mandated by law) that allows you as the customer to get a free replacement should you discover your bought smartphone to be defective. Most stores, however, only give a seven-day window to honor exchanges.
After that, you’ll depend on the standard manufacturer warranty that lasts one to two years. Most warranties only cover faults and defects that are non-accidental, so any repairs and parts replacements caused by drops and spills will still cost you. Warranties also do diddlysquat for stolen or lost phones. Plus, there may be conditions you need to meet before the manufacturer will honor the warranty.
Smartphone insurance, on the other hand, tends to be more comprehensive with the types of damage and incidents that are covered. Depending on the plan, these include liquid damage, cracked screens, and theft.
Lost or stolen high-end smartphones are expensive to replace
Getting a replacement through smartphone insurance is cheaper than buying another phone unit of the same brand and model. This is especially true with high-end smartphones that cost a fortune.
Take, for example, the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 3 with a starting price of Php52,990 in the Philippines. For such price, Globe’s Gadget Care will cover it for a Php399 monthly premium. In the unfortunate event that you lose the phone, Gadget Care will provide a replacement when you file a claim and pay the Php4,000 participation fee.
Doing the math shows you’ll be saving a lot of money by getting insured compared to buying the replacement yourself, especially if you lose the phone in less than a year.
READ: How to get smartphone insurance in the Philippines
You live or work in an accident-prone location
If you anticipate high chances of accidents happening to your smartphone despite you taking reasonable care, then you should have insurance. It could be that your home or workplace simply has relatively higher risks and hazards than normal. Or maybe you simply have a history of dropping and damaging
your phone. Instead of living under stress and waiting for the worst to come, provide protection for your smartphone to enjoy peace of mind.
You depend on your smartphone
If your smartphone is quite important for your work and daily routines, then you have more reason to get it covered by insurance.
Is smartphone insurance worth it?
After some deliberation, with you concluding it’s more convenient and practical to have an insured smartphone than one without, you have several options here in the Philippines. Carefully read the terms of the insurance policy before signing the contract.
Cellular carriers offer protection plans for their postpaid customers, such as Globe Gadget Care and Smart Gadget Shield. PayMaya also has one called Mobile Protect. Some phone manufacturers may offer them too, such as Samsung Care+ and AppleCare. If you bought your smartphone using a credit card, see if you as the cardholder are covered by purchase protection insurance.