‘Satiated’ Demand Caused 64% Chromebook Decline in Q4: IDC
Q4 tablet shipments declined 11.9% year over year to 46 million units globally but jumped 3.2% for the full year to 168.8 million, the market’s highest volume since 2016, reported IDC Monday. Chromebook shipments plunged 63.6% in Q4 but grew…
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13.5% for the full year, it said. Tablet shipments have begun to slow as the market “has moved past peak demand across many geographies," said IDC. But shipments in the near future are expected to remain above pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels, “as virtual learning, remote work, and media consumption remain priorities for users," it said. IDC blamed the Q4 decline in Chromebook shipments on “satiated” demand in the U.S. and Europe, though adoption in emerging markets “has seen continued growth in the past year." Chromebook supply has been “unusually tight,” and component shortages have led notebook vendors “to prioritize Windows machines due to their higher price tags, further suppressing Chromebook shipments on a global scale," said IDC. Apple led the tablet market with 17.5 million shipments for 38% market share, an 8.6% drop-off, the company’s only category to post negative sales in the December quarter, it said in its December earnings report (see 2201280023). Samsung was second, with 7.3 million shipments, down 21.6%; Lenovo was third at 4.6 million shipments, down 25.4%. Amazon eked out a 1.3% gain in tablet shipments to 3.6 million, IDC said.