Notebook PC shipments are skyrocketing, up 81% over last year

Notebook PCs are hot as ever.

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What you need to know

In case you were wondering what the state of notebook PC shipments and sales was in 2021, the news is good: Even withglobal supply shortages, notebook PC shipments are up 81% year-over-year, according to a report byStrategy Analytics. Q1 2021 is crushing Q1 2020’s results.

In the first quarter of 2020, roughly 37.8 million notebook PCs were shipped. In the first quarter of 2021, that number nearly doubled to 68.2 million. That’s a lot of units, especially given that there’s supposed to be a global shortage ofkey computing componentsgoing on right now.

Strategy Analytics' figures also expose global notebook PC market share based on operating systems. In Q1 2020, Windows had nearly 80% of the market. As of Q1 2021, it’s down to 73%. Meanwhile, Chrome OS jumped from 11.7% to 17.7%.

Given that the whole world’s gone remote, including the education sector, it’s not a massive surprise that Chromebooks have seen a spike in popularity, hence the big boost in Chrome OS market share. Still, what the long-term ramifications of that shift in market share might be (if any) remains to be seen.

Strategy Analytics’full reporton global notebook PC shipments can be seen on the company’s website, though it’s available to clients only.

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Robert Carnevale is the News Editor for Windows Central. He’s a big fan of Kinect (it lives on in his heart), Sonic the Hedgehog, and the legendary intersection of those two titans, Sonic Free Riders. He is the author ofCold War 2395. Have a useful tip? Send it to robert.carnevale@futurenet.com.