That appears to be the message of experts who have been examining the reliability of cheaper models of Android handsets.That appears to be the message of experts who have been examining the reliability of cheaper models of Android handsets.

It seems that the components are of poor quality in cheap mobile phones, which makes the handset less reliable and more prone to crash.

The comments were made by a wireless services firm called WDS. Their research found that repair costs could grow massively by as much as £1.25 billion as a consequence of poor quality components. Although cheap phones cost as little as £60 to make, when they go wrong the costs of repair could be expensive. Apple and RIM handsets can break down, but it is Android handsets that are apparently the most likely to do so.

Speaking with the Daily Telegraph, the Vice President of Marketing at WDS, Tim Deluca-Smith, said “While this price point sounds very attractive, when you look at a total cost of ownership it’s a different story.

This research will no doubt come as rather a surprise to fans of Android phones. Whether it has an effect on Android’s market share is hard to say; smartphone usage generally rose to 57% during the third quarter of this year. This is a massive 25% increase from the same time last year. The jump is probably due to the relatively large number of manufacturers manufacturing Android phones rather than anything else; for example, HTC, Samsung and Sony Ericsson.

However while manufacturing ever-cheaper smartphones has brought the technology to the masses, many experts believe that offering poorer quality products cheaply could rebound over time.