I have not noticed an increase of chip failure on my cards. I store them well in a leather wallet that I store in the front. Around here almost all the merchants that wanted to upgrade went out and brought new terminals in 2015-2016. Merchants that are upgrading now usually include a new terminal in the process. Newish terminals plus new chip cards that I got in the past year or two and the error rate is almost zero. The only time I had a chip malfunction was when I goofed and failed to fully insert the card to the point that it clicks in so that was user error. The other time I had an issue was because I had two cards with the same number(original and duplicate) and came to a chip terminal with the original. That obviously did not work right since the duplicates codes were the only ones active at the bank. Overall it depends on the area you are in and the merchants you are purchasing from. Most chip terminals will litely scrape the card that with a lot of insertions will cause damage that will just get cleared up by the 3 year replacement. Realistically the chip is quite durable compared to most plastic cards and only weak on cards that are metal with obvious reason. The chip cards should be able to last 3 years to their replacement. It also really matters who made the card since CPI, Gemalto, and Perfect Plastic Printing make most of the good cards. Valid USA and TSYS also make some of the smaller quality cards. There are many banks but there are only a few card manufacturers that make the good plastic that banks can print on.
I was doing some back to school/clothes shopping for my daughters and ended up at a Victorias Secret. $96 total.
Insert BoA AAA Rewards, bad chip error/decline/fraud alert text. Clear the alert via text
Insert Chase FU bad chip error/decline/another fraud alert text. Cleared via text.
Insert Discover, same...
Told the girl her register is out of whack and to try another one as something on their end is spooking my card issuers!
Used a neighboring register with Chase FU and it worked no problem.
I've got at least 1000 swipes/dips on most of my cards and that was the biggest issue I've had to date. Other than that, a certain Frys Electronics has to manually enter my Discover, but it works normally at all the others Fry's that I've been to.
I've had to replace my Amex BCE due to chip malfunction. I had it about a year. Amex just sent me a new card my number stayed the same but the three digit security code changed. Issue date remained the same as well.
