HTC Will Replace Smashed Smartphones Within 12 Months

Clumsy smartphone lovers of America, rejoice! The HTC One M9, which will hit pockets here in the United States in April, will have an intriguing new form of warranty protection: users will be able to replace their phone with no deductible or replacement fee once if it is damaged.

There’s one reason for this new policy that you might not expect: an HTC executive explained to the Associated Press that what the company really wants is for customers with the new phone to show it off. Without a case. They just need to call up HTC to receive a replacement phone in the mail, then mail the old one back when the replacement arrives.

It must be frustrating for smartphone designers that they keep coming up with beautiful and ever-thinner phone designs, and we insist on coddling our phones in thick, shatter-proof cases to protect them from accidental damage. They push themselves to create beautiful and thin phones, but we don’t even look at them. Will offering one free accidental damage replacement to every customer encourage people to walk around with naked smartphones?

The program doesn’t cover loss or theft, so if that’s coverage that you want, you’ll need to buy additional insurance coverage in addition to HTC’s new program.

Smashed your HTC One? No problem, they’ll replace [Associated Press]

by Laura Northrup via Consumerist