Apple Products' Vaunted Reputation for Quality: 10 Major Shortcomings

NEWS ANALYSIS: Apple’s product line is nearly universally beloved. But Apple products have plenty of design and quality issues that cannot—and should not—be overlooked.

Apple’s products are widely viewed across the market as the finest available. From computers to smartphones to tablets, today’s customers believe that if they get their hands on an Apple product, they’re going to get something that will last them years and be worth the high price.

If one listens to Apple’s legion of fans that want nothing more than to see the company grow, it would appear that the products it sells are absolutely flawless.

However, that’s simply not the case. Apple’s products are generally of high quality and in some cases they are the best devices available. However, they’re not perfect, and all of them suffer from a series of issues that turn many customers away.

Customers are buying Apple products knowing that they lack certain features, don’t support important industry standards or are overpriced. It’s as if those folks go to the store close their eyes to the flaws and plunk down cash to buy an Apple device. That’s unfortunate and it shouldn't be that way.

Read on to find out about the issues that all Apple products suffer from:

1. Reparability

Apple’s new iMac is a design feat since the combined CPU and display unit measures just 5mm thick at its edge. However, the computer has also received some of the worst scores in terms of reparability. It’s not only the iMac. Just about all of Apple’s products are designed so it’s not easy for them to be taken apart, making it extremely difficult for do-it-yourselfers to actually fix broken or hobbled devices.

2. A culture of what you see is what you get

For years, Apple has made it clear that it wants no part of its customers trying to get more from the products they buy. Want to add a new graphics card to that MacBook Pro? Don’t even think about. Want to wait for Apple to offer a free refresh or update to get more functionality? Don’t hold your breath. For the most part, when you buy an Apple product, whatever it does out of the box won’t change over its lifetime. So you will have to wait until you’re ready to pay to buy an upgraded model.

3. Lock it down

On the software side, Apple loves to lock down its operating systems. Although many developers would like an open-source iOS, Apple will never deliver it. And those trying to run other apps than those in the App Store will find that they need to go through the painstaking process of jailbreaking to do so. Even Apple’s OS X is locked down. Don’t expect openness from the iPad maker.

4. The enterprise is an afterthought

The corporate world has always been an afterthought to Apple since the early days of the company. But that never really mattered to Apple. It’s hard to see whether or not it matters now when enterprises are more open to Apple products than ever. Apple doesn’t care about making OS X more enterprise-friendly and when the corporate world wants to see more enterprise-focused applications, Apple typically ignores those calls. Sadly, Apple is still a consumer-obsessed company.