Apple, Samsung Lead the Pack in Terms of PC Buyer Satisfaction

Apple and Samsung are sitting at the top of the pile in terms of PC buyer customer satisfaction.

Tablet customer satisfaction is outpacing laptops as remote work and education take root and Apple and Samsung lead, according to the latest American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI).

ACSI’s ratings are reported on a scale of 0 to 100. Customer satisfaction with personal computers—including desktops, laptops, and tablets — is steady at 78 (100-point scale) following a 1.3% uptick one year ago,” says the ACSI.

With an 82 percent customer satisfaction rating, Apple saw its figures actually fall from the 83 percent it managed in 2019. Samsung isn’t far away with a figure of 81 percent, with Acer coming up the rear with 78 percent.

If you head over to the ACSI website and look for the benchmarks by company, you will see that Apple has beaten a number of other renowned companies including Amazon (78), ASUS (77), Dell (77), HP (77).

The score caters to devices such as laptops, tablets, as well as desktop machines but when you split them, Apple and Samsung are both tied for customer satisfaction when it comes to tablets. Apple and Samsung are also dominating the laptop rankings, while the margins for desktop machines are narrower:

The overall industry rankings mimic results from the cell phone industry, where Apple and Samsung have long been locked in a two-way battle at the top for customer satisfaction. Despite slipping 1%, Apple leads the PC industry with an ACSI score of 82 that matches its rating in the cell phone industry. Samsung again holds second place, just a point lower at 81–a score that also matches its cell phone rating.

Both Apple and Samsung have shown high and stable customer satisfaction for the past five years–separated by just a point in all but one of those years. Apple continues to beat the field across the entire customer experience, receiving its highest mark for design. Samsung shines when it comes to value, rating best in class among all PC makers.

To create its scoring system and compile device scores, the ACSI uses data from interviews with 14,698 customers to analyze customer satisfaction with personal computers, computer software, household appliances, TVs, and more. Customers surveyed were asked to evaluate their experiences with recently purchased products of the largest manufacturers.

Apple will be hoping that the 1 percent fall from 2019’s satisfaction figure isn’t the start of a slide. With the company launching new Macs with Apple silicon, and the death of the much-maligned scissor-switch keyboard, 2021 is looking fine for the Cupertino company.