Originally published at: https://tidbits.com/2025/05/02/six-colors-2025-enterprise-report-card-strong-hardware-weak-software/
At Six Colors, Jason Snell has published his fifth annual Apple Enterprise Report Card. The report surveys 124 Apple IT administrators, with approximately half managing over 1000 devices. The results reveal a stark contrast between Apple’s hardware and software efforts from an enterprise perspective.
Just as in the past two years, Apple’s strongest scores came in hardware and in the company’s commitment to security and privacy. But as hardware scores continue to soar, Apple’s performance on the software side has dropped precipitously.
The survey gives Apple’s hardware reliability and innovation a rating of 4.4 out of 5, praising the M4 MacBook Air as an “enterprise workhorse” and noting that overall reliability issues primarily stem from physical damage, such as from dropped devices. However, software reliability and innovation earned only 3.0 out of 5, the lowest score in the survey, with administrators describing a “continued downward spiral” in software quality and specifically criticizing iPadOS, Apple Intelligence, and System Settings.
