The second quarter of 2021 (2Q21) was another strong quarter for both Chromebooks and tablets with both device categories recording growth despite a challenging year-over-year comparison, notes the IDC research group. And things are looking good for Apple.
In 2Q21 Apple sold 12.9 million iPads for 31.9% of the global market share. That compared to 18% on sales of 12.5 million in the second quarter of 2020. That amounts to 3.5% year-over-year growth.
According to preliminary data from the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Personal Computing Device Tracker, Chromebook shipments grew 68.6% year over year with volumes reaching 12.3 million units. While this wasn’t a record quarter for Chromebooks, it wasn’t far off the prior two quarters, which shattered previous highs. The tablet segment was a bit more tempered than Chromebooks but still managed to grow 4.2% year over year with shipments totaling 40.5 million units.
Despite the positive results during the quarter, both categories are experiencing some slowdown from the boom in the preceding quarters, according to IDC. For Chromebooks, while still in high demand and even on backlog for many education deals, vendors have started prioritizing higher margin Windows laptops given the on-going component shortages. IDC says that some of this applies to tablets. However, there’s also a bigger concern that consumer demand around tablets will slow much faster than Chromebooks or even the broader personal computer market, notes the research group.
