Archived Copies of Warranty Week

December 2002 to Today

Semiconductor & PC Board Warranty Report: For most of the companies making microchips and printed circuit boards, sales are up and warranty expenses are down. But expenses have fallen far more dramatically for the suppliers of the chip manufacturing equipment, who used to spend a far higher share of their revenue on claims than their customers did.
May 12, 2016
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
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
Fixing Computers: If it ain't broke but it won't work, making a warranty claim won't fix it. But some companies are now hiring "geeks" to sell PC tune-ups, or they're giving away free advice with their service plans, to help customers do everything from removing viruses to installing wi-fi modems.
January 31, 2006
Extended Warranty Administrators: While auto and PC manufacturers have the top spots, insurance companies and third party administrators grab the bulk of the pie.
January 19, 2005