One in 10 Hong Kong smartphone 'zombies' have dropped their precious devices in the toilet

From the way Hongkongers nurse their smartphones at lunch, dinner and even while walking the street, you could be forgiven for expecting them to treat their devices with great care, but almost one in 10 have dropped their phone down the toilet.

According to a report by phone case maker OtterBox, around 8 per cent of smartphone owners in the city have sent their devices on an accidental swim in the toilet bowl and up to one in five damaged their phones within the first month of ownership.

"Hong Kong is renowned for its tribe of 'smartphone zombies', which has resulted in a city of droppers, as over one third [35 per cent] of people interviewed admitted damaging their phones because they [were not looking] where they were going," said Steve Nisbet, Asia Pacific managing director of OtterBox.

The firm surveyed 2,500 adult smartphone owners across Hong Kong, Taiwan, Malaysia and Singapore.

Hong Kong came out as the most accident prone market, with 82 per cent of respondents saying they had damaged their phones as many as 10 times, compared to 62 per cent of Singaporeans.