Americans reportedly spent $6B on broken iPhones

Warranty provider SquareTrade queried 2,000 iPhone owners and discovered that they have dumped an estimated US$5.9 billion into repairing their iPhones over the past five years. This figure includes repair costs, insurance deductibles for phones with a warranty and full-cost replacements for iPhones that are broken beyond repair.

The company looked at how owners were destroying their iPhones and found that most people damaged their phone when it dropped from their hand. The second most common accident is a plunge into a toilet, sink, hot tub or other body of water. Rounding out SquareTrade's top five list are a fall from a lap, a drop from a table and a liquid spill. Interestingly enough, a small percentage of iPhone owners (11 percent) don't get a replacement and use their iPhone with a cracked screen. Some owners even tape their iPhone as a makeshift repair.

Even though I've dropped my iPhone plenty of times, I've never damaged it because I use an OtterBox case. Have you ever cracked or broken your iPhone? If so, share your story in the comments.

[Via Orlando Sentinel; image from Flickr member DaveOnFlickr]