Chromebooks Led Falloff in Q3 PC Sales on Reopening of Schools: Gartner
Global Q3 PC shipments inched up 1% year on year to 84.1 million units, reflecting the reopening of schools after a year of COVID-19 shutdowns and “no longer an immediate need for PCs and Chromebooks to support at-home education,” said…
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Gartner analyst Mikako Kitagawa Monday. Business PC demand remained strong, led by economic recovery in key regions and the return to offices for some workers, said the analyst. Chromebooks, which joined Gartner’s traditional PC reporting for the first time in the quarter, fell 17% year on year in Q3 on a drop in demand in the education market. It was the first double-digit decline for the segment since Chromebooks were introduced in 2011. Market leader Lenovo, with 23.5% share, had 1.8% growth to 19.9 million shipments, followed by HP (22.5% share), which had a 5.8% shipment drop to 17.6 million on weak Chromebook sales and supply chain constraints: “A major backlog of unfilled orders led HP to potentially miss out on opportunities that its competitors capitalized upon,” said Kitagawa. Dell shipments spiked 26.5% to 15.2 million due to relatively low consumer market exposure, ending the quarter with 14.5% share, said the analyst. Apple saw 7.4% growth “despite a weak consumer market,” she said, citing a positive reception for the company’s M1 chip. Apple's 6.9% Q3 share was held back by some customers putting laptop purchases on hold in advance of a fall product refresh, expected Monday during Apple’s Unleashed event.