Just 2 percent of Apple iPads and 3 percent of Samsung tablets that people reported on had serious problems or needed repair. That's what we found in our 2014 Annual Product Reliability Survey, conducted by the Consumer Reports National Research Center. Both brands were among the more reliable.
This year, we asked nearly 48,000 readers who purchased a new tablet between 2012 and 2014 about their experiences with more than 61,000 devices. The failure rate for each brand reflects the percentage of all tablets that were ever repaired due to a manufacturing defect or had a serious problem that was never repaired—not including accidental damage, of course. (Brands aren’t penalized for having a higher number of older tablets or a greater proportion of models covered by an extended warranty or service contract.)
Which company came in last? Find out more about brand reliability in our tablet buying guide and Ratings.
This year's analysis was based on nine tablet brands. HP, Google, and Microsoft are newcomers to the chart, while Motorola and Toshiba were dropped due to insufficient sample sizes.
Among tablets with a 7-inch screen or larger bought by our surveyed readers in 2013 and 2014, the Apple iPad was the most popular, accounting for more than 50 percent of all new purchases. But its share among survey respondents is down 7 percentage points from last year.
Samsung made the biggest gain from last year, increasing its share from 9 percent to 15 percent. Amazon is the only other brand with noticeable market share, holding steady at 9 percent.
—Carol Mangis
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