iPhone 4 82% Higher Screen Damage Rate Than 3GS?

The iPhone 4 is certainly a slick piece of design – it's already inspired countless knock-off tablets, not to mention a table – but has Apple shot themselves in the foot with their overly-glass construction?  Warranty specialists SquareTrade says its been tracking iPhone 4 accidents and has discovered the reported accident rate for the iPhone 4 is 68-percent higher than for the iPhone 3GS.

Specifically, iPhone 4 owners reported 82-percent more damaged screens in the first 4 months, compared to iPhone 3GS owners.  The company is also not entirely impressed with the aluminosilicate glass, which they reckon "doesn't seem any less likely to break than previous models."

At least a quarter of the broken glass claims involved the back panel, SquareTrade says, and the company is projecting accident rates of 15.5-percent by twelve months after purchase.  Of course, as a warranty company it's perhaps in SquareTrade's best interests to be ominous about the figures, but with over 20,000 handsets covered you do have to wonder if there's still something to it all.