Extended warranty merchant SquareTrade has released a study on iPhone reliability, based on data from folks who have bought warranties for iPhones and other phone models. The news is mostly good, but not entirely so. To summarize:

1) iPhones are significantly less likely to malfunction than BlackBerries or Treos during their first year, with 5.6% of owners reporting trouble (11.9% of BlackBerry owners did, and 16.2% of Treo owners did);

2) SquareTrade’s extrapolation indicates that they’ll also be less likely to have issues during the second year;

3) The most common iPhone problems relate to its touchscreen, followed by software/features and call quality;

4) iPhones are more likely to suffer accidental damage inflicted upon them by their owners, through actions such as being dropped–SquareTrade says it’s an “incredibly slippery” phone.

Continue reading this story…