“Microsoft dismissed Consumer Reports’ Surface reliability ratings last week, but a new internal memo sheds some light on the issues that the software maker has faced,” Tom Warren reports for The Verge.
“Consumer Reports surveyed 90,000 tablet and laptop owners and found roughly 25 percent of Surface users have encountered issues by the end of the second year of ownership,” Warren reports. “Paul Thurrott has obtained an internal memo about Microsoft’s response to Consumer Reports, and it appears to suggest that high Surface Pro 4 and Surface Book return rates could have impacted Consumer Reports’ findings.”
“In a leaked chart, return rates for Surface Book hit around 17 percent during its launch period, and remained above 10 percent for six months,” Warren reports. “The Surface Book has suffered from consistently higher return rates than any other Surface product throughout the nearly two years it has been on sale.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Poof! So many Microsoft marketing dollars up in smoke! Oh, the humanity!
What do you expect from a second-rate bloatware producer that got rich from poorly mimicking Apple’s Mac? Microsoft doesn’t know how to produce quality hardware either. — MacDailyNews, August 10, 2017
SEE ALSO:
Consumer Reports: Apple makes the most reliable devices; steer clear of Microsoft’s unreliable Surface products – August 10, 2017
Consumer Reports: Don’t buy Microsoft Surface products – August 10, 2017
Consumer Reports: Apple’s Macs the most reliable by wide margin – May 26, 2017
Beleaguered Microsoft’s Surface Pro and Surface Book exhibiting nasty freezing problems – March 7, 2016
Apple Macintosh continues to dominate in personal computer customer satisfaction – September 23, 2014
Apple Macintosh continues to dominate in personal computer customer satisfaction – September 17, 2013
Apple sweeps PCWorld Satisfaction Surveys for desktops, notebooks, smartphones, and tablets – December 7, 2011
Apple Mac tops American Customer Satisfaction Index customer satisfaction for 8th consecutive year – September 20, 2011
American Customer Satisfaction Index: Apple Mac dominates for seventh straight year – September 21, 2010
ACSI: Apple Mac again leads Windows PCs by wide margin in consumer satisfaction – August 18, 2009
Study: Apple beats Dell and HP in customer satisfaction – June 26, 2009
J.D. Power: Apple iPhone ranks highest in smartphone customer satisfaction – April 30, 2009
Survey: Apple Mac users report highest level of satisfaction by far – February 19, 2009
ChangeWave: Apple Mac holds its corporate share; clearly leads in corp customer satisfaction – December 31, 2008
ChangeWave: Apple iPhone’s ‘very satisfied’ rating more than double that of RIM’s BlackBerry Storm – December 22, 2008
J.D. Power: Apple iPhone ranks highest in business wireless smartphone customer satisfaction – November 06, 2008
ACSI: Customer satisfaction rockets for Apple’s Mac; rest of Windows PC industry drops again – August 19, 2008
ChangeWave: Mac OS X Leopard satisfaction far outpaces Vista; Apple Mac strong despite PC slowdown – March 26, 2008
ChangeWave: Apple iPhone maintains big lead in customer satisfaction; top choice among likely buyers – February 07, 2008
ChangeWave survey shows big Apple Mac sales, very high Mac OS X Leopard, very low Vista satisfaction – January 17, 2008
ChangeWave: Apple’s iPhone races to huge lead in customer satisfaction – October 18, 2007
Apple Mac desktops, notebooks top PC Magazine’s Annual Reader Satisfaction survey – again – September 18, 2007
Survey: Apple iPhone nabs unprecedented 92% satisfaction rating (plus likes and dislikes) – August 16, 2007
Study: Apple iPhone owners ‘off the charts’ satisfied with device – July 13, 2007
Microsoft’s customer satisfaction drops following Windows Vista launch – May 17, 2007
Apple’s secret ingredient? A large group of very satisfied customers – April 10, 2007
Apple Mac desktops, notebooks top PC Magazine’s Annual Reader Satisfaction survey – again – August 22, 2006
Apple Computer tops PC satisfaction study – August 15, 2006
Apple Mac desktops, portables top PC Magazine’s 2005 Reader Satisfaction survey – August 24, 2005
Apple continues to lead in customer satisfaction, Dell loses more ground – August 16, 2005
Apple Macintosh leads in personal computer customer satisfaction – August 24, 2004
Apple Macs top PC Magazine’s ‘17th Annual Reader Satisfaction Survey’ – August 10, 2004
Who manufactures the MS devices?
Next, is it a design flaw rather than manufacturing or component supplier issues?
Remember how the first generation of X-Box 360s were cooking themselves?
The same people who make Apple products, but they make it to what the customer is willing to spend, Google,Microsoft, HP, Dell and Amazon won’t spend more on quality in comparison to Apple.
“make” for contract manufacturers is sort of broad term.
Foxconn etc can probably make standard components and shapes but they can also make them ACCORDING to YOUR SPECS i.e what type and how thick the aluminium, how wide the hinge, your own design power supply or standard etc. Apple for example has special aluminum specs (their formula for the new iPhones incidentally are way stronger than the older models — after ‘Bendgate’ hysteria ), their batteries are internally designed and are uniquely shaped to gain max space etc. Microsoft design specs (what type, how, where they position the hinges for example ) are probably way weaker than Apples, and probably use more off the shelf parts.
(remember the first Xboxes were plagued with issues including overheating , ‘the ring of death’ freezing. If I remember correctly the warranty claims went to over a billion bucks — cancelling Xbox profits for several quarters. the Zune was a rebranded Toshiba Gigabeat player. )
Apple has a way larger and better engineering and design team with a lot more experience (all the way back to Job’s garage ! (i.e Decades) with Jobs DNA for fanaticism in details .
MS POS is as MS POS does. (Walk on by if you know what’s good for you.)
Software or hardware quality control NOT their forte. But amusing to watch implode and fall all over themselves.
Like this is news? Apple and the amazing fail rates of the g3 500 ibook and it’s de soldering video chip. Of the 15″ macbook pro with bad video issues. Or the ipod shuffle they were replacing with the newer belt clip one and on and on.
Get over it people. It happens to them all, our beloved apple isn’t immune nor is any other tech company. Jumping on the I’m smarter cause I don’t use MS is total crap
Still glad I’m a mac users though
Bill Belichick *loves* his Microsoft Surface…
http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Daily/Issues/2016/10/19/Marketing-and-Sponsorship/Belichick.aspx
https://deadspin.com/bill-belichick-is-sick-of-those-stupid-microsoft-tablet-1787931452
Bottom line: Why is the Surface being foisted upon the NFL coaches & players? Because Microsoft paid the NFL to use them. The NFL took the money, so the teams were obligated to take them.
It’s kind of sad really. You know there have got to be good people working at MS at some level in the organization. But their hard work and drive for excellence never get through the management layers. It’s just one embarrassment after another.
If MS has someone really focused at the helm they would be a ferocious competitor. Bill Gates what that kind of competitor. He just had “no taste. And I don’t mean that in a small way, I mean that in a big way”… 😁
oddly, I used my iPad 1 from 2010 over the weekend to 1) read a book, 2) watch a few videos 3) check the leaderboards of both Nascar and PGA 4) look at the TV guide and 4) keep up with twitter and the web about Charlottesville. It worked fine, slow by my iPhone 6s plus standards but for the above, it was just as good as when it was new.
I’m eyeing a new iPad pro model for this fall……. what’s a surface? talk to me in SEVEN years…….
Nice spin attempt by Microsoft. On one hand, Consumer Reports lacks the integrity required for in-depth studies. They have a history of going to publication with something juicy, despite weaknesses in their data or testing methodologies.
On the other hand, MS has a rather poor history of hardware reliability. It’s hard to know who to believe, but either way, it doesn’t paint a great picture for Microsoft.
Microsoft? What dat?