It may appear that Chromebooks are flying under the radar but they continue to make steady inroads as a viable alternative to Mac OS and Windows-powered notebooks. According to Taiwan market research firm TrendForce, Chromebook shipments topped 1.8 million units in Q2 2014. Perhaps more significant is that Acer made significant gains during the quarter and surpassed Samsung to take the top spot for the first time with a 30 percent share of shipments.
According to the report, Samsung is now in second place with a 24 percent share. Its fall from first place is attributed to higher prices for its current lineup. It is followed by HP in third place at 21 percent. ASUS, Dell, Lenovo and Toshiba accounted for the remaining 26 percent but individual market share numbers were not provided.
Acer and Samsung have each shipped about 900,000 Chromebooks in the first half of the year. The second half of the year will determine which manufacturer comes out on top. The report also noted that the availability of cheaper Windows notebooks was likely to decrease “the attractiveness of the overall Chromebook market,” suggesting that the Chromebook market could face tougher times ahead.
It’s a different story in the U.S. Commercial Channel market where Chromebooks saw sales jump 250 percent year-over-year and account for now 35 percent of all channel notebooks sales according to NPD. Chromebooks also made further inroads in the U.S. education market after grabbing a 19 percent share of the notebook market in 2013.
Sources : TrendForce // NPD