I, could, agree with that. I must have misinterpreted the article; I read it as good design has become the new baseline, so it can no longer be used as an indicator of quality.
I read it as the same thing, if you take design to mean superficial design rather than design as a stand in for overall quality or long-term useability. (Because it's pretty clearly not even true otherwise, since obviously not all current products have good "design" in the second sense after deeper inspection.)