Chromebooks in sharp decline, while tablet shipments remain stagnant: IDC

The Chromebook market saw a sharp decline in the second quarter of 2022, while the tablet market remained stagnant, according to a recently released report by International Data Corporation (IDC). While more than 40.5 million tablets were sold in the second quarter, the market saw only a 0.15% year-over-year increase and struggled to even reach the single-digit mark.

Although Apple continues to dominate the tablet market, smartphone makers such as OPPO, vivo, realme and Xiaomi have outperformed expectations. However, Chromebook shipments have stumbled, with an IDC report indicating that only 6 million units were shipped in Q2 2022. That’s less than half of last year’s total Chromebook sales.

The tablet market performed better than expected despite inflationary pressures, geopolitical issues and continued restrictions in China due to Covid,” Anuroopa Nataraj, principal research analyst at IDC Mobility and Consumer Device Trackers, said in a press statement.

“There are several factors working in favor of tablets: one is the continued demand for tablets as cheaper alternatives to computers. Many top players have also done a tremendous job with their distribution strategies and have been able to fully deliver tablets for several educational projects. Also notable is the rise of low-cost detachables, particularly from new entrants in regions such as Asia/Pacific (excluding Japan and China), which are capitalizing on demand for educational devices and disrupting vendor dynamics,” he added in the document. Note.

This shouldn’t come as a surprise as sellers haven’t cleared their inventory yet. While there may be several factors that have worked in favor of the tablet market, one of the main reasons why tablet data hasn’t taken off so badly is the continued demand for cheaper PC alternatives and improvements in distribution strategies around the world.

According to IDC data, Apple remained the market leader, followed by Samsung, Amazon.in, and Lenovo and Huawei rounding out the rest of the top five. Apple currently has a 31 percent market share in this segment.