Chromebook Sales Dive as Device Makers Put Windows 11 PCs First
upstart writes:
Chromebook sales dive as device makers put Windows 11 PCs first:
A combination of declining demand and tight supply hit shipments of Chromebooks and tablets at the end of last year, according to new data.
Analyst IDC reports that tablets sales in the fourth quarter of 2021 dipped 11.9% compared to Q4 2020, leaving full-year tablet shipments of 169 million units, 3.2% ahead of 2020. Shipments of Chromebooks, a popular acquisition for many during the earlier stages of the pandemic, declined a massive 63.6% in Q4 2021 year on year, albeit still leaving its full-year growth at 13.5%.
The decline in Chromebook shipments is much worse than was predicted by IDC back in June when it expected Chromebook full-year 2021 shipments would reach 43 million units, 33.5% over 2020.
Instead, full-year Chromebook shipments for 2021 - led by HP, Lenovo and Acer - reached just 37 million units. Chromebook shipments fell 29.8% year on year in Q3 2021 as education buying stalled. In the same quarter in 2020, Chromebook shipments more than doubled, thanks to education sales - and did so at the expense of Windows 10 devices.
IDC notes that, while sales of Chromebooks in the US and Europe have fallen off, demand is still growing in emerging markets.
Read more of this story at SoylentNews.