Microsoft defends Surface family after Consumer Reports labels Surface products "unreliable"

You might recall the name Consumer Reports (CR) most recently from when, last year, the publication famously dropped (and later reinstated) the "Recommended" rating from Apple's redesigned 2016 MacBook Pros. Yesterday, the shoe was on the other foot, as we reported that CR had pulled it's recommended rating from Microsoft's Surface Laptops and Tablets after its own survey suggested that 25% of owners would experience a device failure within 2 years. Today, Microsoft hit back at the damning report.

Panos Panay, corporate vice president of Microsoft Devices, gave a statement:

"While we respect Consumer Reports, we disagree with their findings. We stand firmly behind the quality and reliability of the Surface family of devices, and I can confidently tell you there has never been a better time to buy a Surface."

Panay claimed that Microsoft's own survey, spanning January to June of this year, showed a 98% satisfaction rate for users of Surface devices. "We track other indicators of quality such as incidents per unit, which have improved from generation to generation and are now at record los of well below one percent," said Panay.

Still, the survey was based on devices sold between 2014 and 2017. The Surface family of products has earned a bit of a reputation as excellent hardware with a fair share of software issues, and that includes the recently released Surface Pro.