SquareTrade, an independent warranty provider, has finished their study and published their findings on the failure rates of Microsoft's next-gen console. Their conclusion from a 1040 sample group of warranty claims between April 1 and July 31 2007, shows a 16% rate of fail for the console.
This study doesn't encompass data from the launch of the Xbox360 so a true rate value is unlikely to be known.
These numbers represent 171 claims made on a sample group of 1040 Xbox 360 warranties purchased between April 1 and July 31, 2007, shortly after we began offering warranties on gaming consoles. All claims were normal-use mechanical or electrical failures from non-commercial units. No accidental damage issues were included.
I myself am on my second Xbox360, though to be fair the fault lied with the power 'brick' overheating and not the console itself. The "Red Ring of Death" for the Xbox360 has become as famous and as haunting as the "Blue Screen of Death" for the PC, and has even led to a line of merchandise.
Out of the 171 claims, 102 were "Red Ring of Death" (RROD) general hardware failures. This represents roughly 60% of all claims, and 9.8% of all warranties in the sample group. It's believed that overheating is the main cause.
Of the other 69 claims;
18% were disc read errors.
13% were video card failures.
13% were hard drive freezes.
10% were power issues.
7% were disc tray malfunctions.
Click here to visit SquareTrade's blog article.
