Have Chromebooks finally found the sweet spot?

New data from IHS confirms that it has not been a good year so far for laptop shipments. According to its estimates, shipments of all laptops have declined about 6 percent YoY to about 91 million units in 1H 2015. This decline has been led by slower shipments of laptops 14in and larger, with almost 10 million fewer units shipped in 1H 2015 than in 1H 2014. That said, not all is dark when it comes to the laptop market. Smaller laptops between 11 and 13in actually increased shipments by about 5.7 million units during the said period in 2015.

Much of the reason for this is the increasing popularity of Chromebook notebooks in the 11in range in particular. Chromebooks have become increasingly popular not only among consumers, but with small and medium businesses and the education market. In addition, the Chromebook sales footprint has extended from the US to a variety of emerging markets, with a number of local PC brands releasing Chromebooks in the past few months.

"Thanks to affordable prices, and a completed ecosystem with a host of hardware and app choices and a user-friendly cloud environment, Chromebook has expanded its customer base from small and medium-sized businesses and the education market to general users," said Jason Hsu, supply chain senior analyst for IHS Technology.

Finally, the new Microsoft Surface tablets have driven shipments in the 12in category. There were about 1 million more shipments of 12in laptops during the first half than in the previous year, representing 33 percent growth. This may be an indication that higher-end 2-in-1s could be gaining traction among the consumer and enterprise markets.

See a comparison table of selected Chromebook and Chromebook accessory suppliers on GlobalSources.com