SSDs vs smartphones: how often do their flash storage fail?

[sltech]

How often do SSDs fail compared to smartphones? I have never heard of anyone's iPhone dying because the flash storage failed. Don't SSDs and smartphones both use flash storage?

 

[hojnikb]

They both use the same type of flash, but controllers in eMMC (thats what phones usually use) are much more simplistic and are on the same package as the flash chip itself.

SSDs on the other hand are much more complex (especially controllers) and contain more parts (dram, pcb, more flash packages, controller itself..) and are more prone to dying.

 

[Elixer]

I have had 4 SSDs fail on me, and 0 phones, though, 1 tablet died.
Then again, I don't write gigabytes to my phone, so, the comparison is flawed IMO.
I have seen microSD & SD cards & flash drives die as well...

 

[Olecki]

I don't have knowledge about SSD failure rate but I'm working in big repair center (about 100k phones and tablets per month) and I think NAND failures are most common fault on modern mainboards. If your phone have 'sudden death syndrome' or goes into bootloop and flashing software doesn't help, there is high chance for faulty NAND.

 

[shabby]

I don't have knowledge about SSD failure rate but I'm working in big repair center (about 100k phones and tablets per month) and I think NAND failures are most common fault on modern mainboards.

How old are these phones that have nand failures?

 

[Olecki]

There is no rule. Most of our repairs are warranty service so under 2 years, but I saw even DOA cases with faulty NAND.

 

[Yakk]

Phones & SSD have proven robust for me. Now... I've had a lot of SD cards fail me over the years (pretty evenly distributed in brands). Now I test them fully before using and roughly 15 to 20% don't make it through the h2testw write/read test and now I just return them before using them.

 

[mikeymikec]

I have never heard of anyone's iPhone dying because the flash storage failed.

How would an average user know if the storage device in their mobile died? It would surprise me greatly if pretty much any mobile device actually correctly diagnosed and reported such a scenario.