Tablets and Chromebooks are benefiting from the pandemic

The overall market for PC devices, including tablets, also grew in the third quarter of 2020, according to market researcher Canalys. A total of 124.5 million units were delivered, 23% more than the previous year. The Chromebook category has grown the most. 9.4 million of these devices were delivered, which is a 122% increase over the previous year. Desktop PCs are the only category in which shipments have fallen. 32% fewer devices were delivered here.

The Chromebook market grows I’m harder. (Source: Canalys)

Strong growth in tablets

In the third quarter, 44.3 million tablets were shipped, 43% more than the previous year. The growth of tablets and Chromebooks links Canalys with a trend in cheap computers due to the pandemic. Vendors and sales partners have shifted resources for the production and sale of tablets and Chromebooks to meet the growing demand. This should continue for at least a short time.

The whole PC market is growing. (Source: Canalys)

The five largest tablet manufacturers grew both year-over-year and quarter-over-quarter. Apple remains at the forefront with shipments of 15.2 million devices and is growing 47%. Samsung is growing even faster at 80%, but it only takes second place. Samsung delivered 9 million and Huawei 5.1 million units.

Tablet sales are on the rise again. (Source: Canalys)

“Tablets have risen from the dead as they offer the perfect balance of mobility and computing power for our time across a wide range of price points,” said Victoria Li, analyst at Canalys. The tablet market has been in free fall since 2015, with the last two quarters being the only quarters of growth in the past five years.

Chromebook as an answer to education

The Chromebook market is led by HP. The manufacturer doubled its volume from the previous year to 3.2 million devices. Most of these deliveries are made domestically in the United States. At Lenovo, Chromebook shipments increased more than 300 percent to 1.8 million devices. Dell, Acer and Asus made up the rest of the top five Chromebook vendors. After Canalys, they too have been characterized by strong growth and record volumes.

All Chromebook Producer benefited from the Market development. (Source: Canalys)

“Chromebooks have become the hub of the education segment’s digital response to the Covid-19 pandemic,” said Ishan Dutt, analyst at Canalys. Following the pandemic, institutions turned to Chromebooks to come up with a relatively inexpensive and easy-to-use contingency plan and ensure minimal interruption for the school year, says Dutt. Additionally, Chromebooks would meet the needs of consumers and SMBs who wanted to get their hands on a basic computing device. As demand has not been met, Canalys expects the high delivery volumes to continue until early 2021.

These developments coincide with a September IDC forecast. According to the aforementioned forecasts, the PC market is expected to shrink again for a longer period of time after this growth. You can read more about it here.