Apps Crash On Apple's New High-End iPhone 5s Twice As Often As On Cheaper New iPhone 5c

Apps crash on the new iPhone 5s twice as often than on the equally new iPhone 5c, according to Crittercism, a company that helps mobile app developers track their performance.

Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) debuted both the iPhone 5s and the iPhone 5c in initial markets, including the U.S., on Sept. 20. In the first weekend alone, Apple sold a record-breaking nine million 5c’s and 5s’s.

So it’s somewhat surprising that Crittercism discovered the programs on the 5s crash about two percent of the time, while programs on the iPhone 5c and iPhone 5 crash less than one percent of the time.

The San Francisco-based company has tested hundreds of millions of app launches for companies like LinkedIn, Netflix, Home Depot and TripAdvisor.

Crittercism CEO Andrew Levy told All Things D that one reason apps crash more on the iPhone 5s may be because although developers could check their apps during beta testing for compatibility with iOS 7, the phones’ recently launched operating system, the new hardware was not available before the phones’ public debut. The iPhone 5c is nearly identical internally to the iPhone 5, but the 5s is a different machine inside, with a new 64-bit A7 chip and an M7 coprocessor.

iPhone 5s users have also complained about a "blue screen of death." When using certain iOS apps, a blue screen will sometimes appear before the system crashes.

“The good news is that Apple is certainly aware of issues,” Levy said. “They’ve pushed out two iOS updates for iOS 7 … Apple is doing a really good job of addressing these issues as they come up.”