There has been a lot of debate about whether the popularity of tablets marks a decline in PCs. Will robust, more portable tablets like the Surface or Apple’s iPad Pro become the new personal computer?
A study from the American Customer Satisfaction Index says that satisfaction with personal computers has fallen for a third straight year, and tablets have lost their narrow lead over laptops.
The ACSI polled 2,946 people in the second quarter of 2015, and ranks devices based on a 100-point customer satisfaction scale. Although PCs might appear to be in decline, desktop computers have the highest score, with 81 across the board.
Claes Fornell, ACSI chairman and founder, said that the versatile tablets have actually found themselves in a gray area that makes them less appealing to users.
“Weaker customer satisfaction and slowing sales growth suggest that early enthusiasm for tablets has worn off,” said Fornell. “As large-screen smartphones become more popular, they’ve made tablets somewhat redundant – caught in between the mobility of a smartphone and the power and functionality of a desktop.”
Tablets lost 6 percent compared to last year, descending to a score of 75, while laptops lost 1 percent and are also rated 75.
When the scores are broken down according to brands, Apple dominates in all product lines. Their PCs especially are well ahead of the rest of the industry, with a score of 84. They’re doing well when it comes to tablets, too.
“Though Apple no longer accounts for the majority of all tablets sold, the iPad continues to set the bar for the industry,” said David VanAmburg, ACSI director. “Apple’s new tablet and its partnerships with IBM and Cisco may show that the company recognizes a shift in the tablet market toward business customers.”
The survey suggests that positive customer satisfaction continues to drive new customers to Apple.
Other tablet makers, including first-timers Amazon and Samsung as well as Lenovo and Asus, are hovering around the industry average at 77 (for Asus) and 78 (for Amazon, Samsung, and Dell). Dell was the only PC maker to improve its score, gaining three percent over the last survey. Lenovo came in at 74.
Smaller tablet companies have scores in the lower seventies, with Acer coming in at the bottom with an 8 percent drop to 70.
Satisfaction with televisions and Blu-Ray players has fallen, perhaps because consumers have already jumped on the smart TV bandwagon – the industry saw record highs a year ago, but it seems that most people who wanted to upgrade to a flat panel smart TV have done so. The industry fell 4.7 percent to a score of 82.
The complete report can be found at ACSI.
