The Quality of Apple Products Slipping?

[Harlowgold1]

I have to share my personal concern over the quality of my Apple products. Don't get me wrong compared to other PC manufacturers, Apple leads the pack. Over the last two years, I have had the following product failures.

My two year old iMac has a hard drive failure with just moderate use.
My new Macbook Air has a trackpad failure after three weeks of purchase. Apple replaces the system and six months later the screen fails.

My three month old iPhone speaker stops working...

Thank GOODNESS I purchase Apple Care. I know I could have really bad luck or something is just not right. At this point, I cannot imagine buying an Apple product without the warranty.

Is it just me? Thanks Jenny!

 

[basesloaded190]

They can't get everything right 100% of the time when they are mass producing millions of them. There will be duds. It comes with the territory. Apple has great customer service which helps with many of these problems

 

[hexonxonx]

My two year old iMac has a hard drive failure with just moderate use.
My new Macbook Air has a trackpad failure after three weeks of purchase. Apple replaces the system and six months later the screen fails.

My three month old iPhone speaker stops working...

Thank GOODNESS I purchase Apple Care. I know I could have really bad luck or something is just not right. At this point, I cannot imagine buying an Apple product without the warranty.

Is it just me? Thanks Jenny!

Apple doesn't manufacture hard drives so the HD quality can't be blamed on Apple quality.

I have been buying Apple computers and iPhones since 2007 and have never purchased the extended warranty. In the future, I still won't. never needed an extended warranty.

 

[William.Mantle]

Quality is 100% slipping at an alarming rate. So many horror stories on this forum alone.

Service could be better too!

 

[Demosthenes X]

Anecdotal evidence is pretty meaningless. For example, I've owned a MacBook (no problems), MacBook Pro (no problems), iPhone 3G (replaced after 8 months due to wireless antenna dying), iPhone 3G (no problems), iPhone 4 (no problems), and an iPad (no problems). So my anecdotal evidence suggests Apple's quality is pretty good.

Find some statistics to back up your point, otherwise this thread is a waste of time.

 

[hexonxonx]

Quality is 100% slipping at an alarming rate. So many horror stories on this forum alone.

Service could be better too!

People don't come to a forum to say how good their MBP is working. They come to forums when they are having problems. You can't judge quality on forum posts.

 

[AppleScruff1]

I don't think it has slipped in proportion to their explosive growth. I think we just here about problems more now than in the past. They must have well over hundred million iOS devices out there.

 

[William.Mantle]

People don't come to a forum to say how good their MBP is working. They come to forums when they are having problems. You can't judge quality on forum posts.

You cetainly can and people do

 

[DingleButt]

Apple doesn't manufacture hard drives so the HD quality can't be blamed on Apple quality.

I have been buying Apple computers and iPhones since 2007 and have never purchased the extended warranty. In the future, I still won't. never needed an extended warranty.

Ive never seen as many HDD failures in computers as Ive seen in Macbooks; I think a lot comes from excessive heat levels or Im just very coincidental in my observations.

 

[William.Mantle]

Ive never seen as many HDD failures in computers as Ive seen in Macbooks; I think a lot comes from excessive heat levels or Im just very coincidental in my observations.

Yes much more than other devices

 

[hexonxonx]

Ive never seen as many HDD failures in computers as Ive seen in Macbooks; I think a lot comes from excessive heat levels or Im just very coincidental in my observations.

I've never had a HD die in a MB but I have had them die in HP computers. I've even had a LaCie drive die on me that came with Seagate drives installed.

I've had a WD green drive dead on opening the box. I've HDs die from just sitting on a shelve back in the 90s. These things happen.

 

[Apple fanboy]

I've had 2 Dell hard drives fail. I also found that one dell desktop I purchased lacked the software to bridge the two hard drives it shipped with. I've had the common Xbox ring of death. But I've never had an issue with 2 iPods, iPhone 4 or iPad. I'm looking forward to getting a new iMac soon and can't wait for the reliability and build quality.

 

[roadbloc]

I must say that I have noticed a drop in quality over the years. I have had no problems however and I still think Apple are one of the few tech companies out there that make quality solid products.

 

[Harlowgold1]

The reason that I asked is that prior to my recent purchases, I had an iMac and Macbook Pro - that NEVER had ANY problems! I couldn't kill those things if I had tried! I have had my Macbook Air for 9 months and love it, but I may go to the 13" pro if it has a slimmer profile. Based on my luck...I would buy Apple Care...

 

[Mac-Skeem]

It's called progress

Back in the day when only a niche handful of people used Macs, Apple were making less units and selling less units compared to now. I've got a 7 year-old MBP and it's never skipped a beat, except the battery (which can easily be swapped).

In saying that, I've never had a BIG problem with the quality of my i-products... I had a 3GS for over 3 years, my iPhone 4 is still working fine, and I know that my old iPods (that I've passed onto family or friends) still work fine.

My new iPad just feels solid and has yet to give me any grief.

I don't wanna jinx myself but I think I've been pretty lucky. But I know how many Apple products fail (I worked for a Premium Reseller for a while) its just because there are so many of them out there now, and due to the law of averages, the more products they make, the higher percentage of them will have a problem or fail entirely.

BUT can you imagine how may HP's or Dell's or Acer PCs fail? Apple are still on top in regards to quality, methinks.

 

[codo]

Well I have only been buying Apple since 2006, so I can't really give a 'historical' perspective, but...

Original MacBook (white) - 2006 - still going strong, hooked up to my TV as a media centre. I did replace the fan last year as it had pretty much died, but the machine is on 24/7 and plays HD video frequently. In my opinion, its done very well and owes me nothing.
iPod nano 3G - as good as the day I bought it, keep it in my car for commuting / longer drives.
iPhone 3GS - Still my primary phone since Aug 2009, never had any problems whatsoever. In good condition because I've always used a case.
MacBook Pro 15" - I did have a problem with my MBP about 18 months in. Several components have failed but I had these replaced at an Apple Store (free of charge under Apple Care) and the laptop was back two days later as good as new.

I understand this is a limited sample of products but in my experience, on the whole, I have found my Apple products to be pretty resilient. I also think the products, whilst initially more expensive, have shown to be good value for money when you consider their extended lifecycle.

 

[KnightWRX]

My three month old iPhone speaker stops working...

Thank GOODNESS I purchase Apple Care.

Too bad Apple care doesn't kick in until month 13. You just wasted your money.

I cannot imagine buying an Apple product without the warranty.

Every Apple product comes with a 1 year warranty, which is probably illegal where you live if you have decent consumer protection laws. This means Apple care is a big waste of money.

Is it just me?

Yes. I've been having these kind of problems with electronics, Apple or not, for basically the last 3 decades. That's what the standard, free warranty is for. It's also what consumer laws are for.

Apple products are no more shoddy now than they were before. It's just the nature of the beast when dealing with mass manufactured electronics.