Year-over-year worldwide growth of Chromebooks was almost 70% and tablet unit sales grew 4.2% during the second quarter, according to International Data Corp (IDC).
The latest findings of the firm’s Worldwide Quarterly Personal Computing Device Tracker found that Chromebook volume reached 12.3 million units and tablets reached 40.5 million units.
The firm notes some slowdowns in momentum. Chromebooks still are hot and even backlogged for education deals. However, vendors have begun prioritizing Windows laptops– which have higher margins –– in light of the component shortage.
IDC notes concern that tablet demand will slow faster than demand for Chromebooks or the broader PC market.
There were changes in order in the top five Chromebook vendors. HP was on top during both quarters (and increased its market share by 7.6 percentage points to 35% during the recent quarter). However, Lenovo (21% market share last quarter, up 1.4 percentage points) passed Acer (15.3%, down 5.9 percentage points) and Dell (14.5%, down 5.3 percentage points) for second spot. Samsung remained in fifth place at 7%, though its share was up 2.7 percentage points).
The tablet category also saw changes. Measuring in tablet unit sales, Apple remained on top (31.9% market share, down 0.2 percentage points) and Samsung remained second (up 1.6 percentage points to 19.6%). Lenovo passed Amazon for the third spot (11.6%, up 4.2 percentage points). However, Amazon did grow its market share 1.4 percentage points to 10.7% market share. The loser for the quarter was Huawei, which fell to fifth and saw its share of the market fall 6.4 percentage points to 5.1%.
“Opportunities in the education market are still ample for both tablets and Chromebooks. Online learning has gained rapid traction and has pushed forward the digital revolution in the learning space,” Anuroopa Nataraj, a senior research analyst with IDC’s Mobility and Consumer Device Trackers, said in a press release about the Chromebook and tablet unit sales. “While there isn’t a single solution globally, many emerging markets continue to ramp up use of Android tablets while schools in some developed markets like the USA and Canada lean more toward Chromebooks. That said, there has also been a recent uprising of Chromebooks in areas of Europe, as well as a few Asian countries as schools start opening up to platform change.”
It’s been a wild ride for the past year in Chromebooks, tablets and other devices due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In March, IDC reported that worldwide shipments of smart home devices grew 4.5% to 801.5 million units.
Joan Engebretson contributed to this report.
