What just happened? Chromebooks and tablets are falling even more out of favor with consumers according to the latest data from International Data Corporation. A preliminary report from the firm’s worldwide quarterly personal computing device tracker indicates worldwide Chromebook shipments dipped 20.8 percent in the third quarter compared to the same three-month period in 2022, totaling 3.5 million units.

Acer shipped a million Chromebooks in the quarter, good for first place and a 28.3 percent market share. HP and Dell tied for second place with 700,000 units shipped apiece and a 19 percent share of the market. Lenovo came in third place with 600,000 Chromebooks shipped and 18.2 percent of the pie. Asus struggled, shipping just 200,000 units in the quarter.

Tablet shipments, meanwhile, declined 14.2 percent year over year, reaching 33.2 million units shipped in the quarter. Apple led the way with 12.5 million iPad shipments, capturing 37.5 percent of the market. The next closest competitor, Samsung, shipped just six million tablets to account for 18.0 percent of all shipments. The biggest loser, Amazon, saw tablet shipments decline 49.5 percent year over year.

All things considered, IDC said Chromebooks may be in a better position than tablets thanks to a pending education segment refresh and excess government budget funds.

IDC research manager Jitesh Ubrani noted that tablets have always found themselves in an awkward middle ground between PCs and smartphones, a position that continues to put downward pressure on the market. Anuroopa Nataraj, a senior research analyst with IDC, added that the upcoming holiday season is not expected to offer much relief for the tablet market.

Manufacturers and supporters, meanwhile, are pressing ahead. Asus recently announced a new 2-in-1 detachable Chromebook, and Google has committed to providing 10 years of automatic security updates for devices running ChromeOS. Samsung’s Galaxy Tab A9 and Galaxy Tab A9+ started rolling out globally late last month, and Apple is said to be eyeing an iPad refresh sometime in early 2024.

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