Chromebook shipments drop 37% this quarter, but there’s nothing to worry about
Thanks to the global pandemic, Chromebooks have experienced explosive growth over the past year and have shown no signs of slowing down. However, a new report on the global PC market from Canalys shows that Chromebook shipments slowed down and fell by 37% in the third quarter of 2021. At first glance, it might be easy to say ‘Okay, that is. is all ! Chromebooks have had their time in the spotlight, but the fun and the games are over. It’s time to stop pretending it’s a viable solution, and these numbers prove it! But I urge those who approach the table below in this way to slow their roll a bit.
When COVID first hit stores started to close and everyone across the world was forced to scramble and adjust to a work-from-home model in order to keep the company from breaking out. collapsing, Chromebooks were the obvious choice. They are inexpensive in bulk, lightweight, and offer an easy way to access the Internet along with its wealth of information. Most businesses and schools had already migrated their technologies to web portals, so it made sense to buy a Chromebook! Basically, the adoption of the digital workspace had accelerated quickly and Google rushed to meet the need.
Canalys explains very clearly in their report what likely caused the drop, so let’s take a look. He says Google’s focus on education has inevitably resulted in a slowdown due to the fact that most homes and students already have one or more Chromebooks. Google has made sure that Chromebook has become a well-accepted name for millions of people, so now I’m only going through a season to enjoy the fruits of its labor.
The Chromebook market was hit by a massive slowdown, with shipments falling 37% year-over-year (52% qoq) in the third quarter. This comes as major education markets such as the United States and Japan are reaching saturation point, with public funding for digital education programs slowing. The Chromebook market has grown significantly since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic as students have been forced to adapt to new learning settings.
Canalys
Another reason for the slowdown in shipments, besides the saturation of the market, is that many school districts are currently awaiting the disbursement of the $ 7 billion program funding from the US government’s Emergency Connectivity Fund. This is the money that many educators planned to buy a large chunk of Chromebooks with, so we’re likely to see an increase in sales once that drops. In addition, Chromebook sales are always larger in quantity as the start of the school year approaches, and for the rest of the year, they are naturally lower. With all of these factors added to the pandemic growth spurt of Chrome OS, it’s easy to see why such a drop in traffic for Google laptops probably isn’t a big deal.
During our interview with Jerry Kao, Acer’s COO, we asked him why Chromebooks hadn’t appeared in the company’s recent talk. His answer sums up the essence of everything we’ve seen so far: Chromebooks sell out, and therefore, there’s no real rush to put them in the spotlight at a live event. direct. If they’re on the shelves, people will buy them – and get them! Google has now gone from being immersed in an emerging market to being right in the middle of a growing market.
Most people now know what a Chromebook is and, by extension, understand what they’re capable of – or at the very least, understand the advantages they offer over the competition. For this reason, we are not worried about the numbers presented by Canalys as indicative of some sort of catastrophic apocalypse for the golden age of the Chromebook. Now that Chrome OS is in the hands of the masses, it can continue its ascent to polish and perfection as a competitive tool for professional and personal use.
Photo by Brooke Cagle on Unsplash