How important is your smartphone’s warranty to you?

The Spanish government recently mandated that products will have to be sold in the country with three years of warranty. This ruling extends the duration of the warranty on most products — including electronics — from the existing period of two years. The regulation also applies to smartphones and should enforce a higher manufacturing quality, putting markets like the US at a disadvantage where you get only one year of warranty on most products. A longer warranty for your smartphone certainly has its advantages, but is that something you care about?

Spain’s new regulation also extends the choice between repair and replacement to the consumer should a product fail to match the quality endorsed by the company. Overall, this should compel companies to ensure better quality products so they continue to work as intended for a longer period.

Besides Spain, other regions also offer similar protections to consumers. Companies that sell in the European Union, for instance, are obligated to offer at least a two-year guarantee of compliance. Some countries have their own consumer protection laws that extend the EU’s two-year ruling. Sweden, for example, lets you claim a guarantee in three years of purchase whereas Iceland and Norway extend this to five years. In the UK, you can claim a warranty under the Sale of Goods Act (SOGA) even up to six years after the purchase in most conditions.

A longer warranty might sometimes mean that manufacturers often recover these costs by pricing the product higher in these regions. But, a three-year or even a two-year warranty extends more assurance over the single year the users get in the US or other regions like India.  This also goes hand-in-hand with companies’ efforts to make their devices last longer via software updates.

How long is the standard warranty period in your region? Would you also prefer a longer warranty while buying a product? Let us know in the comments below!

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