Read the full article at The Economic Times (India.)

Every so often, Apple comes out with an updated iPhone. It typically has new features and attracts a lot of buzz, which causes many consumers to lust for an upgrade. As it turns out, all that buzz can also lead to an increase in iPhone accidents.

When a new model is available, according to recent research, people who have iPhones tend to become more careless with the phones they already own.

The phenomenon also applies to more prosaic products like sunglasses, mugs and and toothpaste, the researchers found.

"Consumers act more recklessly with their current products when in the presence of appealing, though not yet attai ned, product upgrades (not just mere replacements),“ according to a paper to to be published in The Journal of Marketing Research that was written in part by Silvia Bellezza, an assistant marketing professor at Columbia Business School. Professor Bellezza embar ked on the research because she was interested in “whether consumers break things on purpose because they need a justification," she said. She was joined in the study by Joshua Ackerman of the University of Michigan and Francesca Gino of Harvard Business School.