Tablets and Chromebooks are the New Hotspots for Growth in the PC Market

The total PC market (including tablets) enjoyed a second successive quarter of growth, with total shipments of 124.5 million units, up 23% year-on-year, according to Canalys. Lenovo led the global market with 23.5 million tablets, notebooks and desktops shipped followed closely by Apple with 22.1 million macs and iPads. HP, Dell and Samsung rounded out the top five.

Chromebooks were the best performing client PC product in Q3, as shipments grew 122% to a total of 9.4 million. Detachables (tablets and notebooks) grew 88% and were the second best performing category in personal computing. Within desktops, all-in-ones grew 7% despite an overall desktop market decline of 32%.

The worldwide tablet market posted stellar growth in 3Q20, with shipments of 44.3 million units, up 43% year-on-year. Meanwhile, Chromebook shipments hit a record high of 9.4 million units, growing 122% from a year ago. Both categories came to the fore in the context of affordable computing, as the pandemic continued to positively influence PC ownership and usage for various purposes. Vendors and channel partners shifted resource allocation towards production and distribution of tablets and Chromebooks to meet this surging demand, which is expected to continue in the short-term.

Across the board, the top five tablet vendors posted both year-on-year and quarter-on-quarter growth, a remarkable performance given the strength of shipments in Q2. Apple maintained pole position with shipments of 15.2 million units and growth of 47%. Samsung placed second with stunning growth of 80% to break the 9 million unit shipment mark for the first time since Q4 2015. Huawei built on its strong position in China and Europe with growth of 38% to secure third place with shipments of 5.1 million units. Amazon and Lenovo rounded out the top five vendors, with growth of 8% and 59% respectively.

Vendors selling Chromebooks also saw impressive growth continue into Q3 of this year. HP led the market, more than doubling volumes from a year ago to hit 3.2 million units, with the majority of shipments coming in its home market of the US. Lenovo hugely ramped up Chromebook shipments, growing over 300%, to move into second place with 1.8 million units. Dell, Acer, and Asus made up the remainder of the top five, with each posting strong growth and record Chromebook shipment volumes.