Tablets and Chromebooks Set All-Time High Shipment Records in 4Q20

The Global PC market (including tablets) ended 2020 on a high, posting a third consecutive quarter of annual growth, according to Canalys. The shipments hit 143.7 million units in Q4, up 35% year-on-year. As a result, total shipments for 2020 grew 17% to reach 458.2 million units, the highest volume since 2015.

Lenovo led the market in quarter and for the full year, with shipments of 28.8 million and 87.0 million units respectively. On the back of a stellar performance in iPads, second-placed Apple managed to close the gap with Lenovo and shipped 26.4 million Macs and iPads in Q4, a total of 81.4 million units for the full year. HP, Dell and Samsung made up the rest of the top 5, with each posting double digit shipment growth in 4Q20.

The holiday quarter brought continued strength to tablets, with shipments hitting an all-time high of 52.8 million units, for a 2020 total of 160.6 million units and 28% growth over 2019. And yet again Chromebooks set record shipment volumes, reaching 11.2 million units in Q4 2020, a remarkable 287% increase over 4Q19, bringing the full-year 2020 total to 30.6 million units.

Apple furthered its dominance in the tablet market, with Q4 shipments growing 40% to 19.2 million, its best iPad performance since 4Q14. Samsung maintained second place in the market with 9.9 million tablets shipped, up 41% from 4Q19. Amazon climbed to third place on the back of strong holiday season demand, shipping 6.5 million tablets. Lenovo was the fastest growing vendor in Q4, increasing sell-in volume by 125% to reach 5.6 million units. Huawei was the only vendor in the top 5 to see shipments decline year-on-year.

Chromebook vendors enjoyed new heights of success in Q4, as the overall market almost quadrupled in size over the same period a year ago. HP maintained top spot in the market with 3.5 million units shipped, up 235% year-on-year. Lenovo placed second in the Chromebook market, having managed to greatly ramp up production to hit 2.8 million units for 1766% growth. Acer and Dell also maintained their spots in Q4, with each shipping around 1.5 million units. Samsung edged out Asus to grab fifth place, shipping just over a million units, 630% more than a year ago.