Global Chromebook shipments plunged 48 percent year-on-year to 19.2 million units last year, as consumers tightened their belts amid an economic downturn, International Data Corp (IDC) said in a report on Friday last week.
Total shipments plummeted to 19.2 million units from 2021, when sales surged 180.5 percent year-on-year to 36.9 million units, bolstered by demand for remote learning at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, IDC said.
Fourth-quarter shipments declined 24.3 percent from a year earlier to 3.6 million units, marking six straight quarters of declines, as PC sales came under pressure from weaker work-from-home and online learning demand as the COVID-19 pandemic eased, IDC data showed.
Photo: Bill Chen, Taipei Times
Even though the pandemic has brought about positive changes to Chromebook adoption and market watchers believe such devices would continue to play a fundamental role in education, consumer spending has weakened in the face of a slowing economy and still-high inflation worldwide.
“While Chromebooks have faced a tough few quarters, the excess channel inventory that had built up is starting to subside and could potentially lead to more normalized growth in the coming quarters as back-to-school season returns,” IDC mobility and consumer device research manager Jitesh Ubrani said in a statement.
“However, any traction that Chromebooks made outside the education sector will continue to suffer, as the economy stalls and as tablets and PCs supplant Chrome-based devices,” Ubrani said.
PC vendor Acer Inc (宏碁) last year ranked first in the global Chromebook market, although the company only shipped 4.2 million units, 33.8 percent less than a year earlier, IDC data showed.
That gave the Taiwanese firm a 22 percent market share in the year, up from 17.3 percent in 2021.
Dell Technologies Inc was second with shipments of 4.1 million, down 24.3 percent from the previous year, for a market share of 21.3 percent.
Lenovo Group Ltd (聯想) placed third with 3.7 million units, dipping 54.4 percent year-on-year, for a market share of 19.5 percent.
HP Inc ranked fourth, with shipments of 3.5 million units, down 65.6 percent, followed by Asustek Computer Inc (華碩), which shipped 1.3 million units, 20.9 percent less than in 2021, IDC data showed.
The two secured market shares of 18.4 percent and 6.8 percent respectively, IDC said.
Taiwanese suppliers to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC, 台積電) are expected to follow the contract chipmaker’s step to invest in the US, but their relocation may be seven to eight years away, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. When asked by opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Niu Hsu-ting (牛煦庭) in the legislature about growing concerns that TSMC’s huge investments in the US will prompt its suppliers to follow suit, Kuo said based on the chipmaker’s current limited production volume, it is unlikely to lead its supply chain to go there for now. “Unless TSMC completes its planned six
Power supply and electronic components maker Delta Electronics Inc (台達電) yesterday said second-quarter revenue is expected to surpass the first quarter, which rose 30 percent year-on-year to NT$118.92 billion (US$3.71 billion). Revenue this quarter is likely to grow, as US clients have front-loaded orders ahead of US President Donald Trump’s planned tariffs on Taiwanese goods, Delta chairman Ping Cheng (鄭平) said at an earnings conference in Taipei, referring to the 90-day pause in tariff implementation Trump announced on April 9. While situations in the third and fourth quarters remain unclear, “We will not halt our long-term deployments and do not plan to
‘SHORT TERM’: The local currency would likely remain strong in the near term, driven by anticipated US trade pressure, capital inflows and expectations of a US Fed rate cut The US dollar is expected to fall below NT$30 in the near term, as traders anticipate increased pressure from Washington for Taiwan to allow the New Taiwan dollar to appreciate, Cathay United Bank (國泰世華銀行) chief economist Lin Chi-chao (林啟超) said. Following a sharp drop in the greenback against the NT dollar on Friday, Lin told the Central News Agency that the local currency is likely to remain strong in the short term, driven in part by market psychology surrounding anticipated US policy pressure. On Friday, the US dollar fell NT$0.953, or 3.07 percent, closing at NT$31.064 — its lowest level since Jan.
The New Taiwan dollar and Taiwanese stocks surged on signs that trade tensions between the world’s top two economies might start easing and as US tech earnings boosted the outlook of the nation’s semiconductor exports. The NT dollar strengthened as much as 3.8 percent versus the US dollar to 30.815, the biggest intraday gain since January 2011, closing at NT$31.064. The benchmark TAIEX jumped 2.73 percent to outperform the region’s equity gauges. Outlook for global trade improved after China said it is assessing possible trade talks with the US, providing a boost for the nation’s currency and shares. As the NT dollar
RSS