The increase in demand was a necessity, Canalys said. With the second COVID-19 wave causing new shutdowns and more remote education, schools and students often did not have much choice but to issue or require laptops. Chromebooks are inexpensive and relatively easy to maintain, making easy choices as regular laptops for many schools and some businesses.
Tablets also had a large demand, if not nearly as large. Shipments rose 28 percent in 2020, with Apple, Samsung and Lenovo being the biggest demand. Here the explanation is more complicated. While education and employment played major roles, pure content consumption also played a major role. If you are sitting at home, you are more likely to want a device that can help you get a TV marathon or a couch-based internet burner.
Canalys also noted that the tablet profits were partly modest because the market was already so large. About 160.6 million tablets will be shipped in 2020, or five times as many as Chromebooks. Google’s platform may be very important to some audiences, but it’s tablets that have the most eyeballs.