Chromebooks are playing a big role in the continued growth of the global PC market which showed continued growth for a fourth quarter in a row, according to data from Canalys.
Total PC shipments were up 53.1 percent year over year reaching 122.1 million units, with Chromebooks hitting record first-quarter numbers at 12 million units shipped, a 274.6 percent increase.
HP maintained its spot as the Chromebook market-leader, growing 633.7 percent to take it past 4 million shipped units.
Lenovo was in second with 3.1 million units, followed by Acer, Samsung and then Dell who each surpassed 1 million units.
“Chromebooks are well and truly a mainstream computing product now,” said Canalys research analyst Brian Lynch.
“While the education sector still accounts for the majority of shipments, their popularity with consumers and traditional commercial customers has reached new heights over the course of the last year. HP and Lenovo dominate the Chromebook market, but the boom has been a case of a rising tide lifting all boats, allowing vendors such as Acer and Samsung to carve out substantial shares within the PC market by catering specifically to Chromebook demand.
“Google is now in a strong position to work with its OEM partners and the channel to cement a rosy future for Chromebooks. A substantial messaging and evangelization push coupled with the targeting of growth trends, such as flexible work arrangements and budget-conscious SMBs, will be vital to ensure the longevity of Chromebooks’ success.”
Tablets were also up with 51.8 percent growth at 39.7 million units.
Apple’s latest iPad Air drove the company’s 50.3 percent growth, extending its lead over other vendors to a 38.6 percent market share. Samsung held on to second place seeing 59.9 percent growth.
Amazon saw the biggest growth at 197.9 percent year on year, followed by Lenovo at 133.5 percent, although Canalys attributes this to low Q1 2020 numbers.
Huawei actually declined 27.9 percent, primarily due to the breakaway of its former Honor brand into a separate entity, but still maintained its lead over competitors to secure a top-five spot.
“The tablet market continues to defy expectations with the strength of its comeback. Even beyond the traditionally strong holiday season, vendors are seeing elevated demand as the need for affordable computing power and connectivity persists,” said Canalys research analyst Himani Mukka.
“At a time when the overall PC market is facing a supply crunch, the vendors that have strong tablet offerings have been able to squeeze out even greater gains from the increased demand for screen access and remote productivity brought about by the pandemic. Canalys expects this trend to develop as tablets become mainstays in growing sectors such as education as well as in wider commercial deployments to support digital transformation.”
For the total PC market, which includes desktops, notebooks and tablets, Lenovo held onto its leadership position shipping 24.0 million units and posting growth of 66.5 percent.
Apple came second with 22.1 million shipments of Macs and iPads. HP secured third place with 19.3 million units and 64.2% growth, leaving Dell and Samsung to make up the rest of the top five.
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