PC, tablet shipments in US fall 16 per cent after several quarters of growth: Canalys

For Chromebooks, the education market is said to have shrunk by up to 11 per cent yearly, and 53 per cent quarterly decline. Additionally, most school districts in the US are said to have been operating on a one-to-one student-to-PC ratio. This has led to a decline in Chromebooks in particular as much of the platform’s volume comes from the segment, according to the report.

Meanwhile, tablet shipments declined 24 per cent to 10.0 million units as consumer demand also fell. The report states that desktops were the best-performing category as part of the analysis. Shipments of the same are said to be up 6 per cent to 3.2 million units.

“The US PC market slowed after several consecutive quarters of double-digit growth,” Brian Lynch, Research Analyst at Canalys said while commenting on the findings.

“Despite this, overall shipments remained high when compared with pre-pandemic levels. Much of the decline can be attributed to the education and consumer segments, which have reached saturation point, leading to a dramatic fall in Chromebook and tablet shipments. Consumers who bought devices due to the pandemic have returned to more in-person activities, with a reduced need to refresh their devices so quickly, especially in anticipation of enticing deals to come during the holiday season,” he added.

In terms of individual vendors, Dell topped the US PC market with 10 per cent annual growth and saw 5.6 million shipments. The company’s strength with commercial customers ensured this strong performance.

HP — the US market’s top Chromebook vendor– witnessed a dramatic drop in the quarter, according to the report. Though it maintained its number two position overall, shipments fell 31 per cent.

Lenovo, which stood number three, saw a modest 3 per cent yearly increase in shipments, while Apple fell 14 per cent and was number four on the list. Acer is said to have rounded out the top five with its shipments falling by more than 30 per cent due to its reliance on the slowing consumer segment.

In the tablet segment, Canalys reports that Apple topped the list with a 45 per cent market share as a result of iPad’s popularity. Amazon’s tablet shipments reportedly declined by 41 per cent with the company taking second place.

Samsung was third with the company witnessing the smallest decline of the top five vendors and shipments were down just 3 per cent to 1.9 million units. Microsoft and Lenovo made up the rest of the top five.