Apple Regains Lead in Latest J.D. Power Tablet Customer Satisfaction Survey

[MacRumors]

Apple reclaimed its spot as the highest ranked tablet manufacturer in J.D. Power's latest U.S. tablet customer satisfaction study. Apple earned a 5-star rating and scored 830 on a 1,000 point scale, edging out Samsung, which scored a second place 822.

The survey of 2,513 tablet owners found that Apple led its competitors in four of the five measured categories, including performance, ease of operation, features and styling and design. Apple trailed only in cost, which isn't surprising given the starting $299 price tag of Apple's iPad lineup. Number two Samsung ranked above-average in features, styling and design, and cost.

All is not rosy in the tablet market, however, with overall satisfaction among tablet owners on the decline, dropping 18 points to 835 in 2014 from a high of 853 in 2012. Ease of operation was the feature that showed the largest drop in satisfaction, with tablets taking longer to setup and becoming more complicated to use.

"Since the inaugural U.S. Tablet Satisfaction Study in 2012, a number of new tablet OEMs have entered the U.S. marketplace, differentiating themselves to satisfy a growing interest in owning a tablet," said Kirk Parsons, senior director of telecommunications services at J.D. Power. "Price has significantly impacted the marketplace. The average purchase price continues to drop and consumer expectations of tablet performance and features are different than they were for past products. Subsequently, overall satisfaction has declined, especially with ease of operation, as navigation features and functions have changed."

Not surprisingly, the most important feature cited by consumers when buying a tablet was cost, followed by features and brand reputation. Brand recognition is becoming increasingly important to consumers, beating out both manufacturer websites and personal recommendations as the reasons why they select a particular brand.

Article Link: Apple Regains Lead in Latest J.D. Power Tablet Customer Satisfaction Survey

 

[okboy]

Not surprisingly, the most important feature cited by consumers when buying a tablet was cost, followed by features and brand reputation.

Sigh.

 

[Nunyabinez]

My wife got some cheap tablet and has been very frustrated with it. I don't know how there can be much difference in your satisfaction with these tablets when they all run the same OS.

She has an iPhone and finds Android to be messy and unintuitive. I'll bet most non-iPad users have never touched an iPad or an iPhone and hence don't know how awful Android is.

I know some here will defend Android, but it seems really bad in comparison to iOS, at least to me.

 

[dannyyankou]

I knew Samsung's lead wouldn't last long. Apple especially has the advantage in design.

 

[joelvega125]

I don't know why Samsing is rated so high. They make garbage. I tried using their devices for a couple years and I came away from it never wanting to see a plastic piece of Samsung touch wiz trash again. Must be a hipster thing.

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My wife got some cheap tablet and has been very frustrated with it. I don't know how there can be much difference in your satisfaction with these tablets when they all run the same OS.

She has an iPhone and finds Android to be messy and unintuitive. I'll bet most non-iPad users have never touched an iPad or an iPhone and hence don't know how awful Android is.

I know some here will defend Android, but it seems really bad in comparison to iOS, at least to me.

EXACTLY! Well Put.

 

[cdmoore74]

Maybe I should have Macrumor editors talk to my wife when I have mixed news. Their pretty good at putting a positive spin on everything.

I have a Note 3 but could care less about their tablets. So surprised that their knocking at Apple's door; the master of the tablet.

 

[Kariya]

My gf got a BlackBerry Playbook. Used it all of one month before dumping it in her drawer. Now uses my iPad everyday to the point where i pretty much don't have an iPad anymore.

Planning to get another one when Touch ID and 2GB of RAM filters through the line and then just leave the current one to her.

The iPhone has serious competition, but the iPad simply doesn't. Nothing really comes close in terms of overall experience.

 

[Nunyabinez]

One problem with these kinds of surveys is that they assume that all criteria are equally weighted. They should also ask a global question like "on a scale of 1 to 10 how satisfied are you with your tablet."

I'm not that satisfied with the price, but I love the product and would never think of getting a competitor's product. So for me, price is not weighted very heavily. Others might be just the opposite.

 

[keterboy]

I just dont understand how Samsung's tablet scored so high compared to Apple's iPad. Those numbers are literally impossible and far from reality.

Every person I know, even people who like the Samsung tablet, tell me that the iPad is "much" better than any Android tablet.

Ive used it myself, the touch sensitivity lag is so annoying, you can literally feel the finger input lag and after a few minutes it makes you tired because your brain works faster than your inputs.

Then the Android menu is such a "wanna be" iOS menu that tries to gimmick it and completely fails at it.

So, out of my personal experience, any of this above is just nonsense for me, to say the least.

 

[Cyborg21]

My wife got some cheap tablet and has been very frustrated with it. I don't know how there can be much difference in your satisfaction with these tablets when they all run the same OS.

She has an iPhone and finds Android to be messy and unintuitive. I'll bet most non-iPad users have never touched an iPad or an iPhone and hence don't know how awful Android is.

I know some here will defend Android, but it seems really bad in comparison to iOS, at least to me.

As someone used GS4, Galaxy S4, iPhone 4S and iPad 3. I have to agree. There were a lot of disadvantages of using Android.

1) Play Store and Android accessories were really bad. Play Store had a lot of garbage apps, some malware and most apps were badly designed. Also most interesting accessories were all made for iPhone. For example: I went shopping for a stereo for my GS4. All stereos were made for iPhone, I could only find 1 stereo for Android (Philips). When I went to home, it required to install an app. When I installed app, it didn't worked because Philips was stopped developing Android. I could only use bluetooh and it consumed too much battery. In my opinion whole point of smartphones and tablets are apps and accessories. They add capabilities to phone. Android was inferior in every single way in 3rd party support. iPhone accessories were better, iPhone apps were better and iPhone customization was better with jailbreak. I know most Android users say ''Oh, Android can be customized much more than an iPhone'' but it's not, only ''customization'' was poorly designed launchers . So my iPhone 4S was a lot more capable than my GS4

2) I know it's Samsung's fault but both GS4 and Galaxy Note 10.1 were poorly made. AMOLED screen of GS4 got blueish overtime and it was over saturated. Everything looked very unnatural and screen looked weird. LCD screen of Galaxy Note 10.1 was washed out everything looked so pale and again unnatural. Also that design and plastic became more and more distributing overtime.

3) A lot of apps were running unstable, Android crashed a lot and sometimes my phone rebooted itself for no reason . And weirdly it was slow

4) UI was unintuitive and too complicated. It doesn't give you more options, it just makes doing work harder.

Android reminded me how good iOS really is. So, I am waiting for iPhone 6. When Apple releases it, I will buy Also, news about Samsung and a little research showed me how corrupt Samsung is, so I won't buy a Samsung product either.

 

[H2SO4]

............ I'll bet most non-iPad users have never touched an iPad or an iPhone and hence don't know how awful Android is.

I know some here will defend Android, but it seems really bad in comparison to iOS, at least to me.

I agree that Android seems worse but be very careful, certain things that appear bad could be intentional. That aside I wouldn't mind betting that there are more iOS devices users that wouldn't consider Android before even sampling it than the other way around.

 

[69Mustang]

My wife got some cheap tablet and has been very frustrated with it. I don't know how there can be much difference in your satisfaction with these tablets when they all run the same OS.

She has an iPhone and finds Android to be messy and unintuitive. I'll bet most non-iPad users have never touched an iPad or an iPhone and hence don't know how awful Android is.

I know some here will defend Android, but it seems really bad in comparison to iOS, at least to me.

You would lose that bet more often than not. Outside of brand fans, most people buy what they like. Your anecdotal wife story can be countered with my anecdotal sister story, or someone elses anecdotal 80 year old grandmother.

I would even venture that most people don't find the need to defend Android or Apple. They recognize the positives and negatives of each platform and realize that they don't exist in a vacuum. Basically the survey says the spread from Amazon to Apple is negligible. People who buy tablets like them.

Disclosure: I have GS3, Nexus 7, iPad, MBA, and some PC's.

 

[allanfries]

My wife got some cheap tablet and has been very frustrated with it. I don't know how there can be much difference in your satisfaction with these tablets when they all run the same OS.

She has an iPhone and finds Android to be messy and unintuitive. I'll bet most non-iPad users have never touched an iPad or an iPhone and hence don't know how awful Android is.

I know some here will defend Android, but it seems really bad in comparison to iOS, at least to me.

Yes, and what most don't get, is with apples premium price you get a premium product, that not only performs very well but also has a great resale value. To me price should even be a consideration. And it isn't.

 

[dec.]

No "statistics and surveys only are important when they are in favour of apple"-posts yet? Wow.

 

[kdarling]

I knew Samsung's lead wouldn't last long. Apple especially has the advantage in design.

Ironically, all my Apple tablets are in cases to protect their nice design.

 

[dannyyankou]

Ironically, all my Apple tablets are in cases to protect their nice design.

I've had the same iPad since 2011 and it has no scratches. I got it replaced once cause the home button isn't working, but 3 years without a scratch and no case is pretty amazing.
I've also dropped it a few times without any denting or marks.

 

[newyorksole]

Lmao at it being so close. That's a joke.

 

[kdarling]

I've had the same iPad since 2011 and it has no scratches. I got it replaced once cause the home button isn't working, but 3 years without a scratch and no case is pretty amazing.
I've also dropped it a few times without any denting or marks.

My first (caseless) iPad lasted a long time, as well. Until it got accidentally dropped by a child and the display stopped working.

Replaced it with another iPad inside a child proof case, plus got an iPad mini in a nice case for myself

 

[GeneralChang]

My wife got some cheap tablet and has been very frustrated with it. I don't know how there can be much difference in your satisfaction with these tablets when they all run the same OS.

She has an iPhone and finds Android to be messy and unintuitive. I'll bet most non-iPad users have never touched an iPad or an iPhone and hence don't know how awful Android is.

I know some here will defend Android, but it seems really bad in comparison to iOS, at least to me.

I own two Samsung tablets, and you won’t ever hear me defend either Samsung or Android. Frankly, they are depressing in both the hardware sense and the OS. Probably my biggest annoyance is how sad and empty the ecosystem feels in comparison to Apple’s. I have tried really quite hard to justify the existance of these tablets, but since I can’t do anything useful with them aside from watch Netflix in bed, we’ll probably be selling them. Too bad Samsung has flooded the market so completely by giving stuff away that you can only get half-price for them anymore.

 

[iSee]

J.D. Power rankings have long been a bunch of B.S. when it comes to cars. I expect for tablets it is the same.

 

[yellowtruck]

Price Points

My family uses the galaxy because of the price. That is what matters the most in this economy and rising gas prices and to folks who are entering the tablet market for the 1st time. Money is less in value just under 12% since 2009 and jobs have diminished. Apples solution to this is continue to sell older ipad models at lower price points. But why buy out dated ipad when you can get a new galaxy with up-to-date features. The time is soon approaching where Apple must find ways to lower their pricing across the board for tabs, desktops ect. And FYI, I’ll NEVER use anything Samsung – for life!

 

[iolinux333]

My family uses the galaxy because of the price. That is what matters the most in this economy and rising gas prices and to folks who are entering the tablet market for the 1st time. Money is less in value just under 12% since 2009 and jobs have diminished. Apples solution to this is continue to sell older ipad models at lower price points. But why buy out dated ipad when you can get a new galaxy with up-to-date features. The time is soon approaching where Apple must find ways to lower their pricing across the board for tabs, desktops ect. And FYI, I’ll NEVER use anything Samsung – for life!

Double the touch screen lag on android capacitive screens makes me insane. I'll not have another android device until they up the specs on their screens to get rid of the hardware lag.

 

[polterbyte]

The surprise is not that Apple regained the lead, but that it lost it in the first place.

 

[macs4nw]

J.D. Power rankings have long been a bunch of B.S. when it comes to cars. I expect for tablets it is the same.

That is definitely a surprisingly close outcome. Price is probably a big factor in the end result.
Of note, the MS Surface is missing on that list.

 

[avanpelt]

All is not rosy in the tablet market, however, with overall satisfaction among tablet owners on the decline, dropping 18 points to 835 in 2014 from a high of 853 in 2012. Ease of operation was the feature that showed the largest drop in satisfaction, with tablets taking longer to setup and becoming more complicated to use.

Shocker there. When no-name companies flood the market with cheap, underpowered tablet hardware running a customized version of Android that's laden with bloatware, it's no wonder people are frustrated with their $99 tablets. Hey, but at least they can tell their friends they have a tablet!