Samsung Galaxy Tab has a sky-high return rate

Samsung might have sold truckloads of their Galaxy Tab Android tablets, but how many of those tablets stay with their satisfied customers? Apparently not many, according to some reports. It has discovered that 15% of Galaxy Tabs sold are being returned – much higher than the 2% return Apple gets for their iPads – talk about unsatisfied customers! If that’s the case, Samsung’s 2-million tablets sold milestone might not be that big of a deal anymore. The 15% return rate covers sales from the tablet’s debut in November until January 16.

Apparently, the main reason for the tablet returns was due to Samsung’s choice of operating system for the tablet. The Korean manufacturer had decided to release the tablet with Android 2.2 instead of holding out a few months for the tablet-optimized version of the operating system (Android 3.0/Honeycomb) in order to hit the market first. Undoubtedly this has given them leverage in initial sales, but with the high rate of returns and unsatisfied customers, it could prove detrimental in the long run, especially with the plethora of Android tablets that will be coming out this year – having a bad rep isn’t going to help them at all.

Hopefully Samsung has an answer in the form of a Honeycomb update for the Galaxy Tab or shows off something spectacular when they reveal the Galaxy Tab 2 at the Mobile World Congress. How many of you Galaxy Tab owners are unsatisfied with your Android tablet? If you bought one and returned it, let us know why.

George Wong
Categories: Tablets
Tags: Android, android tablet, galaxy, galaxy tab, Samsung, tab