A report shows that Chromebook sales have dropped massively in the second half of 2021. What could be the reason for this downfall?
Q4 2021 has wrapped up and things aren’t looking good for Chromebook sales. The company saw poor sales in 2021 and didn’t close off the year on a good note, even though it has seen significant growth in past quarters.
So why are Chromebook sales dropping so drastically, and is there any hope for improvement? Let’s find out.
Chromebook Sales Are Dropping Massively
A report has come out showing that Chromebook sales are dropping. Analyst IDC reports that sales dropped 63.6 percent year on year in the fourth quarter of 2021, although its full-year growth is at 13.5 percent.
In 2021, full-year Chromebook shipments reached a mere 37 million units, worse than Analyst IDC’s prediction of 43 million shipments, 33.5 percent more than in 2020.
In the third quarter of 2021, shipments dropped 29.8 percent year on year as education spending slowed down in the US.
But what was the reason for poor Chromebook sales in 2021?
Why Chromebook Sales Dropped Massively in 2021
Analyst IDC fingers supply and demand issues as the reason for Chromebooks’ massive drop in sales in 2021, noting that there is a low supply of Chromebooks due to the global computer component shortage.
As stated by Jitesh Ubrani, research manager for IDC’s Mobility and Consumer Device Trackers in a press release:
Supply has also been unusually tight for Chromebooks as component shortages have led vendors to prioritize Windows machines due to their higher price tags, further suppressing Chromebook shipments on a global scale.
Ubrani noted that vendors have instead turned their focus towards Windows 11, which is priced higher, thereby crippling Chromebook sales—which, as we have noted, were already declining in the third quarter of 2021.
First, Chromebook sales dropped as educational institutions spent less on Chromebook devices, and sales continued to drop in the fourth quarter of 2021 as vendors geared their spending towards Windows 11.
Considering Chromebook’s continued drop in sales over the past year, its sales outlook is looking dim and there’s no telling when sales could pick up again. So, what does this tell us?
Organizations Are Steering Away From Chromebooks
While Chromebook sales initially picked up when the pandemic began, life as we know it is slowly getting back to normal, albeit a new normal.
Educational institutions, businesses, and organizations have all begun to settle into that new normal and pivot towards a future in which Chromebooks might not be a priority for spending as it was before.
That means that Chromebook may need to regroup and figure out a new strategy that will help pick up sales going forward, and will hopefully place the product into its customers’ future.
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