Archived Copies of Warranty Week

December 2002 to Today

Nine-Month 2021 Warranty Report: This year, product sales took off but warranty expenses didn't follow. The result is that early in the year, warranty expense rates dove to levels never reached before, before rising back to typical levels later on. And the cause of this dip wasn't the automakers. This time it was the computer manufacturers.
December 16, 2021
US Computer Industry Warranty Report: Despite the pandemic and the lockdowns that followed, U.S.-based computer manufacturers continue to reduce their warranty expenses from one year to the next, as they have since 2003. And while some of their suppliers had a bad 2019 in terms of warranty cost increases, in 2020 most of them managed to reduce warranty costs proportionally to sales.
April 29, 2021
Nine-Month 2020 Warranty Report: So far this year, warranty claims are down -10%; accruals are down -15%, and warranted product sales are down -7%. But a few industries such as Security Systems and Computer Peripherals are actually up on all fronts, while the warranty metrics of Aerospace and Computers are way down.
December 17, 2020
Computer Warranty Report: Warranty accruals and reserves rose for the first time in years, but the long-term decline in the computer hardware industry continues nevertheless. Apple and HP see only minor changes in their warranty metrics. But some of the top disk drive makers are seeing expenses rise significantly.
April 30, 2020
Computer Industry Warranty Report: Though the totals and averages are declining, we can't be sure it isn't caused primarily by all the companies going private or getting acquired by non-reporting parents, and thereby dropping from the list of warranty expense report providers.
May 2, 2019
Computer Industry Warranty Report: The warranty costs of the top U.S.-based computer manufacturers are declining, but not at the expense of their suppliers. Instead, their costs seem to be declining together in parallel, with their expense rates now roughly half as high as they were 15 years ago.
May 10, 2018
Midyear Computer Industry Warranty Report: Even though numerous industry players have been acquired or have gone private, the remaining manufacturers have continuously cut their warranty expenses from one year to the next. But then along came the iPhone, and now Apple's frequent ups and downs are dominating the industry's statistics.
November 2, 2017
Service Contract Pricing: Laptops: Laptop service contracts, as a percentage of the price of the product they protect, are more expensive at the low end of the market and less expensive at the high end. But there is a very wide variation between the top and the bottom. Laptop service contracts can cost anywhere between 4% and 91% of the price of the computer.
October 27, 2016
Computer Industry Warranty Report: Though their warranties are usually shorter than those on cars and trucks, their expense rates are almost as high, as a percent of revenue. And despite their higher-than-average claims and accrual rates, many computer, disk drive, and printer manufacturers prefer to keep their warranty reserve cushions as slender as possible.
April 21, 2016
Aerospace Warranty Report: Unlike the computer and automotive industries, the aerospace OEMs do not pay a vastly greater share of industry warranty expenses than do their suppliers. However, like their parts and component suppliers, they tend to provide longer warranties and keep larger reserve balances than manufacturers in other industries.
April 14, 2016
Computer Supplier Warranty Report: Data storage system manufacturers have been steadily reducing their warranty costs for more than a decade. But the cost reductions seem to have slowed down in recent years. Meanwhile, for peripheral manufacturers, warranty expense rates are now almost back to normal, following years of elevated costs.
April 23, 2015
Computer OEM Warranty Report: As the industry shifts from desktops to laptops to smartphones, warranty expenses rise as the form factor shrinks. And after decades of competition, a few large players with huge warranty operations are left where once there were dozens of manufacturers.
April 16, 2015
Computer OEM & Supplier Warranties: Are the computer OEMs paying a growing or shrinking percentage of the warranty costs of their industry? Are the warranty costs of their suppliers rising or falling as a result of their efforts to make them split the bill?
September 4, 2014
Computer Industry Warranty Report: Thanks to the popularity of smartphones, Apple is now the largest warranty provider in the U.S. But most other computer makers are cutting warranty expenses, as are most disk drive makers. Even Microsoft is getting over the Xbox warranty calamity it suffered through a few years ago.
May 1, 2014
Computer Warranty Report: Traditional laptop and hard drive sales are declining, while smartphone and solid state storage sales soar. However, the change in product mix is raising warranty costs for some manufacturers such as Apple.
January 23, 2014
Computer Warranty Report: In terms of streamlining the warranty process so it can be as efficient as possible while making more reliable products, computer manufacturers and their suppliers are doing a great job. But at the same time, they went from spending the least on warranty in 2009 to the most ever in 2012. How can both statements be true?
March 28, 2013
Tenth Annual Warranty Report,
Totals & Averages: The automotive manufacturers are cutting their warranty expenses while the computer makers are seeing higher costs. But put them together, and they're paying the smallest percentage of their revenue ever for warranty work on their products.
March 21, 2013
Computer OEM Warranty Metrics: There are multiple ways to look at the same statistics. And there are multiple ways to gauge cost-cutting, consistency, and accuracy with warranty totals and estimates. In different ways, using different metrics, Apple, HP and Dell are each leading their industry.
December 13, 2012
Computer Supplier Warranties: Unlike in the automotive industry, computer makers are not trying to reduce their warranty expenses by shifting more of the burden onto suppliers. Instead, both OEMs and suppliers are reducing their costs by increasing product reliability.
September 27, 2012
Computer Warranties: While the computer OEMs still pay most of the claims, they've been very successful at cutting the percentage of sales they spend on warranty. Meanwhile, suppliers such as disk drive makers have also streamlined their warranty outlays, but the peripheral makers haven't been so lucky and are watching costs rise as a percentage of sales.
April 12, 2012
Consumer Electronics Warranties: Most of the best-known brands are imports. Most of the domestic brands are made by computer, appliance or telecom companies. Most of the emphasis is on sales of service contracts. So how can we analyze just the product warranty expenses of U.S.-based consumer electronics manufacturers?
January 26, 2012
Computer Warranty Report: The bigger the box, the smaller the warranty expense. And when phones get smart, and when computers get small enough to fit into pockets, warranty costs seem to grow proportionally. That's what the industry's warranty claims and accrual data, gathered over the past 8-½ years, seems to suggest.
September 29, 2011
Warranty Reserves vs. Accruals, Part Two: A handful of computer, electronics and data networking companies have gotten very good at controlling their warranty funds, both in terms of how much they set aside and how much they keep on hand. Others just take their best guess and hope it all turns out well.
June 23, 2011
Disk Drive & Semiconductor Report: Warranty costs are falling for most of the high tech component makers, both in dollars spent and as a percent of sales. And unlike in the auto industry, the computer OEMs are not yet as accomplished at pushing their warranty costs back onto their parts suppliers.
April 28, 2011
Computer Warranty Report: After years of cost cutting, warranty expenses remained low last year and look to stay there this year, even as sales continue to rebound. Apple, meanwhile, is beginning to feel the effects of the increased warranty cost that comes in small packages.
April 21, 2011
Computer Warranty
Claims & Accruals: No news is good news as the computer industry's top warranty providers turn in predictable warranty expense reports. Despite economic turmoil, new product launches and multiple recent acquisitions, claims and accrual rates just aren't changing much.
September 16, 2010
Computer Industry Warranties: For most of the major players, sales declines caused relative warranty costs to increase. Turmoil in other industries caused a major PC maker to become the biggest warranty provider in the U.S. And for the lucky few, sales rose and warranty costs fell, despite a tough market full of customers still reluctant to spend.
September 17, 2009
Aerospace Warranty Trends: Unlike the computer and passenger car industries, in the commercial aviation industry the customer-facing brand names and their suppliers share warranty costs much more equitably. Then again, these multi-million-dollar jets and helicopters are hardly consumer products. And since safety and reliability are such top priorities, consistently low warranty costs are to be expected.
April 9, 2009
Computer Warranty Trends: While other industries are seeing claim rates rise and accrual rates fall, warranty providers in the computer industry are seeing claims rise slightly and accruals rise a lot. And it's not so easy to blame those changes on sales declines, or to link them with quality increases.
March 26, 2009
Computer Warranties: At the half-year mark, HP is up and Dell is down, while Apple and Seagate keep their warranty costs under control. At Lexmark and Palm, however, already-elevated warranty costs keep going higher.
September 18, 2008
Computer Warranty Providers: Like a dog that doesn't bark, what hasn't happened to the likes of Apple, Seagate, and other warranty providers in the computer industry is more remarkable than what did. Meanwhile, HP, Sun, IBM, 3Com and Cisco continue to slowly but surely reduce their warranty costs.
June 27, 2008
Warranty Benchmarks, Part Two: Big companies really do pay more. The larger the manufacturer, the more warranty claims they pay. And in both the automotive and computer industries, OEMs tend to pay more claims than their parts suppliers.
October 31, 2007
New Home & Appliance Warranties: At the midpoint of 2007, sales are falling faster than claims can be reduced, driving claims rate percentages upwards for many companies in the building trades. But unlike in the automotive or computer industries, claims in this sector were always rather evenly distributed among new home builders and their suppliers.
September 25, 2007
Computer & Peripheral Warranties: At midyear, it looks like many of the major brand names continue to cut their warranty expenses, as do many of their suppliers. But soon Dell will restate its warranty accruals and that could erase the declines completely. Or will it add to them?
September 18, 2007
Worldwide Computer Warranties: Thanks to exact data for U.S. product warranties and good data for worldwide market shares, we can estimate a worldwide figure of $12.3 billion for IT hardware warranties and $4.9 billion for PC warranties. With mobile phones, however, the precision drops because so much of the industry is based in Asia and Europe, where warranty data remains relatively scarce.
June 5, 2007
Computer Warranties: Though warranty costs increased only slightly for PC makers as a group in 2006, a few companies saw radical changes in their claims and accrual rates. And Dell's still missing, with no new warranty data in almost a year.
May 8, 2007
Consumer Electronics Warranties: While most of the brands are imports, there is a short list of American CE manufacturers. But while the Japanese brands have relatively low warranty expenses, the American brands pay claims at rates more like those seen in the computer and automotive businesses.
May 1, 2007
Peripheral Warranties: With computer printers and monitors, older technologies frequently get longer warranties than new. And while one would think higher prices mean longer warranties, that doesn't seem to be the case.
August 8, 2006
Computer Warranties: While most computers still carry a one-year warranty, some are covered for only 90 days while many office computers still cling to three-year warranty periods.
August 2, 2006
Computer Warranties: While most computers still carry a one-year warranty, some are covered for only 90 days while many office computers still cling to three-year warranty periods.
August 1, 2006
Computer & Electronics Warranties: As is the case in automotive, those with their brand names on the outside end up paying most of the warranty claims. But the computer OEMs don't pay out as much as some of the printer companies or the makers of high-end semiconductor production equipment.
May 2, 2006
Computer Warranties: It's entirely possible that HP, Dell, and IBM are each now paying roughly the same percentage of their hardware revenue to satisfy warranty claims. A year ago, HP was paying much more, and Dell and IBM were paying less.
November 9, 2005
Extended Warranty Income: Though most extended warranties are sold by retailers, a few computer manufacturers continue to make a killing by selling their own service contracts. Extended warranties can account for a significant slice of profits, and sometimes can actually be the difference between profit and loss.
October 25, 2005
Early Warning Systems: The benefits, we suspect, are huge. But so are the costs. In an era when investments in new computer software must show a return or else, what will be the ROI for warranty analytics?
June 7, 2005
Warranty by Industry Sector: While claims grew by 4.9% to $25.1 billion in 2004, warranty's slice of revenue actually shrank a bit as sales grew faster. In some industry sectors, both dollars and percentages actually fell, but computer and automotive OEMs still process the vast majority of all warranty claims.
May 10, 2005
Computer Warranty Claims & Accruals: The companies whose brand names go on the front of the computer continue to pay the lion's share of warranty claims. Makers of disk drives, printed circuits, semiconductors, and most types of peripherals see a significantly smaller share of warranty claims.
August 24, 2004
Warranty Claims Rates: In both the automotive and computer industries, the OEM -- the brand name on the product -- is frequently left holding the bag when it comes time to pay warranty claims. As the latest data shows, their suppliers usually see much lower warranty claims rates.
June 2, 2004
Warranty Reserves: While the average manufacturer spends 1.9% of product revenue on warranty claims and keeps a little over a year's worth of funds in reserve, each industry is different. Computer manufacturers and automakers fund their warranty programs at different levels than telecom or aerospace manufacturers. But in any group, as with any trend, there's always the odd man out.
April 6, 2004
Warranty in the IT Industry: Readers ask for more details on warranty claims and accruals in the computer, telecom, semiconductor, disk drive, and peripherals industry sectors.
January 12, 2004
Telematics - Computer Car Crashes Do Automobile Telematics Boost Reliability? Or Will the Clock in the Car Soon Be Blinking Midnight?
January 13, 2003