Apple loses 20-year title as sole winner of the American Satisfaction Index

The American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) is out with its 2023 study on electronics and household appliances. After Apple has been the sole winner of the personal computer category for 20 years straight, this year a rival has caught up and forced a tie.

ACSI published the new report today based on over 14,000 respondents (chosen at random) from July 2022 to June 2023. The personal computer category includes desktops, laptops, and tablets.

Overall, Apple’s Mac and iPad experience scored 83, three points above the personal computer average of 80 this year. And 83 is one point higher than Apple earned in the last two years.

Apple loses sole crown for customer satisfaction

However, for the first time in two decades, Samsung tied Apple for the top spot as it jumped 2 points YoY in the study.

Samsung surges 2%, tying Apple (up 1%) with an ACSI score of 83. This is the first time since 2003 that Apple hasn’t been in sole possession of first place. Samsung’s strong overall performance is boosted by surging customer satisfaction with its tablet offerings (Galaxy Tab). While tablet satisfaction at the aggregate level falls this year, Samsung improves 6% to a score of 85.

Dell and Acer came in second and third. Here’s the full results:

As for which devices scored higher, desktops had the best overall score with 84, laptops came in second at 80, tablets scored lowest on average with 76.

For those curious about how all the metrics contributed to the overall scores, here are the 10 attributes of personal computers that ASCI measured:

And here’s how those categories ranked when split by desktop, laptop, and tablet:

9to5Mac’s take

This is a tough one for Apple. For decades its fine-tuned hardware and software in Mac and iPad have offered what consumers have seen as the best personal computer experience.

Now – at least according to this group of 14,000+ respondents – Samsung is offering an equal experience.

Interestingly, Apple often quotes customer satisfaction scores as high as 98 or 99% for its hardware from 451 Research in its quarterly earnings calls. However, studies like ASCI are likely to be more realistic in their results than those that show near 100% satisfaction. We previously covered why that is.

• Could iPhone really have 99% customer satisfaction?

What do you think? Has Samsung earned a tie with Apple for first place when it comes to computers and tablets? Or does Apple still own the best personal computer experience? Share your thoughts in the comments!

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