Chromebooks Drove Strong Q1 PC Unit Growth, Says Canalys
The U.S. PC market grew 73% year on year in Q1, with total shipments of desktops, notebooks, tablets and workstations exceeding 34 million units, reported Canalys Tuesday. For the first time since Q3 2019, Apple lost its position as the…
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top PC vendor in the U.S. (including tablets), despite 36% growth, Canalys said, noting Apple “performed well considering Q1 tends to be a weaker quarter for Mac and iPad shipments.” Notebooks (up 131%) and tablets (52%) led overall shipments, while desktops lagged amid “weak demand” during the COVID-19 pandemic, said the researcher. “The PC industry recorded incredible shipment numbers in Q1 2021, though some of this growth can be attributed to the industrywide struggles seen in Q1 2020,” said Canalys analyst Brian Lynch, but the quarter still ranks as “one of the best first quarters the industry has ever seen.” Vendors prioritized fulfilling U.S. backlogs before addressing supply issues in other parts of the world, he said. Notebook shipments grew by 131% year on year, driven by order backlogs and continued demand to support remote work and education. Tablet units topped 11 million in the quarter as demand spilled over from the December holiday period, it said. HP shipments grew 123% to 7.2 million, for 21% share, on commercial backlog fulfillment and strong Chromebook demand. Apple followed with 6.7 million shipments for 20% share. Dell, in third place, grew shipments by 29% to 4.7 million units at just over 14% share, with Lenovo ranking fourth, growing 93% to 3.4 million shipments and nearly 14% share. Samsung had a 116% increase in the quarter to 3.4 million shipments for 10% share. Much of the “record-breaking growth” over the past year was driven by a surge in Chromebook sales for education, along with 92% year-on-year growth in the consumer segment, Canalys said. Third-place Dell lagged the growth rate of the other top five vendors “due to its weaker position in the consumer and education segments,” it said. The U.S. Chromebook market grew 548% over the past year, led by Samsung in its U.S. market debut. Trends will continue due to ongoing investments in digital education: “There is no return to normal for education,” said analyst Ishan Dutt, saying the growing Chromebook installed base will lead to “consistent upgrades and support for the product line.”