Newsletter 
The COVID-19 pandemic-hit year of 2020 saw a sharp rise in demand for work-from-home tools such as tablets and PCs. According to a recent data estimate by market research firm Canalys, the global PC and tablets market grew 35-percent year-on-year (YoY) to reach 143.7 million units in Q4 2020. The market saw annual growth in shipments for a third consecutive quarter. The shipment volume for the full year reached 458.2 million units, the highest since 2015.
Tablet devices reached an all-time quarterly high of 52.8 million units in Q4 2020. Total tablet shipments for the last year exceeded 160.6 million units, marking a 28-percent YoY growth from the previous year.
Apple continued its dominance in the global tablet market, capturing a 36-percent share in the fourth quarter. The Cupertino giant shipped 19.2 million tablet devices in Q4 2020, a 40-percent growth from the previous year. Samsung also registered a strong 41-percent annual growth in tablet shipments this past quarter, nearly shipping 10 million units worldwide.
Amazon was the third-biggest vendor of tablets in Q4 2020. The e-commerce giant shipped 6.5 million tablet devices during the three months period ended December 2020. Lenovo, however, was the biggest gainer. The company registered a whopping 125-percent YoY growth in tablet shipments this past quarter. It shipped 5.6 million tablets globally during the period.
This may not come as a surprise, but Huawei shipped fewer tablets in Q4 2020 than it had in Q4 2019. The beleaguered Chinese giant is struggling to keep its businesses afloat globally because of the US sanctions. The company still managed to remain in the top three for the full year though, thanks to a better performance early in the year.
Along with tablets, demand for Chromebooks also increased in Q4 2020
Chromebooks saw an even bigger interest than tablets in Q4 2020. The global shipments of Chromebooks reached a record 11.2 million units this past quarter. That’s a remarkable 287-percent YoY growth over Q4 2019. The shipment volume for the full year also more than doubled to 30.7 million units from 14.7 million units in 2019.
HP, Lenovo, Dell, Acer, and Samsung were the top five Chromebook vendors for Q4 2020 as well as for the full year. Lenovo and Samsung were the biggest gainers, although all other vendors also registered a strong positive growth because of the steep rise in demand.
When it comes to the overall PC market, which also includes tablet devices, Lenovo topped the chart for both Q4 2020 as well as the full year. The Chinese company shipped 87 million personal computers last year, registering a YoY growth of 19 percent.
Apple was a close second with 81.4 million shipments, followed by HP, Dell, and Samsung. The latter registered the biggest annual growth in global PC shipments among the top five vendors.
Samsung recently announced its earnings report for Q4 2020 and FY 2020. The company put up a solid performance last year due to the strong demand for semiconductor chips and displays. The PC market was seemingly another area where the Korean giant did exceptionally well.
Its Galaxy Tab lineup of Android tablets has been performing well year after year. Samsung is expected to introduce the 2021 sequels to its Galaxy Tab S7 and Tab S7+ flagships later this year. It now remains to be seen how the global PC market changes in 2021 after a strong 2020.
