Losses in the billions: cunning seagulls “steal” and break phones
Some birds mistake smartphones for food, while others are attracted by their shine and mistake them for insects.
Seagulls have caused £1.6 billion worth of damage by smashing smartphones, a UK study has found. About this informs Daily Star.
A survey conducted by MoneySuperMarket experts among 2,000 Britons revealed a significant increase in the number of complaints about cracked smartphone screens. Over the past year, 56% of all gadget repair complaints involved broken phones, which cost an average of £895 to repair. The study also showed that 40% of screen damage was caused by the clumsiness of the owners, but some of the screens were damaged by pesky seagulls.
According to the survey, 3% of respondents reported that their phones were damaged during bird attacks. Considering that around 58 million people in the UK use smartphones, this means that over 1.7 million residents have been affected by seagull attacks resulting in phones being dropped and broken. Some birds mistake phones for food, while others are attracted by their shine and mistake them for insects.
“The majority of cracks on screens are caused by dropping the phone on a hard surface – 40% of such cases in total. 10% of respondents said that they dropped the phone due to busy hands, 3% dropped it in the toilet, and 2% dropped it from a window. Of the respondents, 3% reported that their phones were damaged by a seagull attack,” commented a representative of MoneySuperMarket.
