Chromebooks outsold Macs for the first time in the US

[bobenhaus]

http://www.theverge.com/2016/5/19/11711714/chromebooks-outsold-macs-us-idc-figures

Google's low-cost Chromebooks outsold Apple's range of Macs for the first time in the US recently. While IDC doesn't typically break out Windows vs. Chromebook sales, IDC analyst Linn Huang confirmed the milestone to The Verge. "Chrome OS overtook Mac OS in the US in terms of shipments for the first time in 1Q16," says Huang. "Chromebooks are still largely a US K-12 story."

IDC estimates Apple's US Mac shipments to be around 1.76 million in the latest quarter, meaning Dell, HP, and Lenovo sold nearly 2 million Chromebooks in Q1 combined. Chromebooks have been extremely popular in US schools, and it's clear from IDC's comments the demand is driving US shipments. Outside of the US, it's still unclear exactly how well Google's low-cost laptops are doing. Most data from market research firms like IDC and Gartner focuses solely on Google's wins in the US.


Google's milestone will undoubtedly unnerve Microsoft, at a time when PC shipments are in an overall decline. IDC predicts a "modest rebound" in the coming months, thanks to some IT buyers considering Windows 10 transitions and an uptick in Chromebook sales in the US. Chromebooks are well positioned to challenge Microsoft's dominance of the low-cost laptop market, and Google is expected to officially unveil its plans to bring Android apps to Chrome OS to make the laptops even more attractive to consumers.

 

[jamesrick80]

Chromebooks are $100 dollars and cheap products for the most part while macbooks are $1000....apple can sell one macbook for every 10 chromebooks...sure apple is laughing while heading to the bank.....

 

[gotluck]

why does this have to be about profits? yes we know apple is the best at fleecing

this is just market trends, like in the other thread, it is probably microsoft, then ipad that takes the biggest hit from this, especially in education

 

[macfacts]

Chromebooks are $100 dollars and cheap products for the most part while macbooks are $1000....apple can sell one macbook for every 10 chromebooks...sure apple is laughing while heading to the bank.....

Great news for Apple investors. Not that much for customers.

 

[MasterRyu2011]

Chromebooks are $100 dollars and cheap products for the most part while macbooks are $1000....apple can sell one macbook for every 10 chromebooks...sure apple is laughing while heading to the bank.....

I don't think Apple is laughing. They aren't trembling either. Just different market segments. However, Apple should not be complacent. People are buying more and more chromebooks when they realize that they don't need to overspend by hundreds of dollars just to check email, facebook, and connect to the internet for mundane things. Some chromebooks look very much like a Macbook from afar too. They're plastic for sure, but they feel nice as well.

 

[tbayrgs]

I don't think Apple is laughing. They aren't trembling either. Just different market segments. However, Apple should not be complacent. People are buying more and more chromebooks when they realize that they don't need to overspend by hundreds of dollars just to check email, facebook, and connect to the internet for mundane things. Some chromebooks look very much like a Macbook from afar too. They're plastic for sure, but they feel nice as well.

People may be buying them, but not many people. Read a stat that 80% of Chromebooks are sold in North America and 70% of those are to schools. The Verge article speculates about 2 million Chromebooks were sold in the US so approximately 1.4 million sold to schools, the overwelming majority of which didn't consider buying Macs for even a split second. Chances are most of the consumers that bought the remaining 600K (about 1/3 as many as estimated Mac sales) also weren't considering Macs considering the huge difference in average price.

While the continuing increase in Chromebooks sales in interesting, this comparison is nonsense.

 

[nviz22]

Meanwhile, the Chromebook is about to get a lot better with a boost of Play Store apps. Chrome OS will be a lot more user friendly.

 

[epicrayban]

Meanwhile, the Chromebook is about to get a lot better with a boost of Play Store apps. Chrome OS will be a lot more user friendly.

Yeah, this development is interesting.

 

[jamezr]

People may be buying them, but not many people. Read a stat that 80% of Chromebooks are sold in North America and 70% of those are to schools. The Verge article speculates about 2 million Chromebooks were sold in the US so approximately 1.4 million sold to schools, the overwelming majority of which didn't consider buying Macs for even a split second. Chances are most of the consumers that bought the remaining 600K (about 1/3 as many as estimated Mac sales) also weren't considering Macs considering the huge difference in average price.

While the continuing increase in Chromebooks sales in interesting, this comparison is nonsense.

agreed when comparing to Macs. Makes no sense. Different markets. But I think the comparison should be to iPads. Apple made a concerted effort to grow the education market for the iPad and failed. iPad sales are declining while Chromebooks sales are gaining due to education sales. I am sure Apple would love to have those sales be iPads.

 

[tbayrgs]

Meanwhile, the Chromebook is about to get a lot better with a boost of Play Store apps. Chrome OS will be a lot more user friendly.

So they'll improve the Chromebook experience, yet the tablet experience, one that utilizes the touch interface Android apps are designed for, is so often lacking. Not sure how this will be better on a Chromebook. If a phone app sucks on a tablet, why would it all of a sudden be great on an even larger displayed device, many of which don't have touch screens?

 

[nviz22]

So they'll improve the Chromebook experience, yet the tablet experience, one that utilizes the touch interface Android apps are designed for, is so often lacking. Not sure how this will be better on a Chromebook. If a phone app sucks on a tablet, why would it all of a sudden be great on an even larger displayed device, many of which don't have touch screens?

Maybe Android on tablets is pretty much quiet for now. I have never used an android tablet for more than a couple of months. I prefer iOS or full Windows. My current tablet is a Surface Pro 4.

 

[tbayrgs]

Maybe Android on tablets is pretty much quiet for now. I have never used an android tablet for more than a couple of months. I prefer iOS or full Windows. My current tablet is a Surface Pro 4.

And that's my point...when Android apps so often are terrible on a tablet...already larger than a phone...why would they be any good on an even larger display that right now usually doesn't have a touch screen? Not seeing how this makes Chromebooks a whole lot better.

It's equivalent to getting excited about having iPhone apps on my Mac...

 

[Fancuku]

Meanwhile, the Chromebook is about to get a lot better with a boost of Play Store apps. Chrome OS will be a lot more user friendly.

Now that would be cool and would probably make me buy one.

 

[MasterRyu2011]

People may be buying them, but not many people. Read a stat that 80% of Chromebooks are sold in North America and 70% of those are to schools. The Verge article speculates about 2 million Chromebooks were sold in the US so approximately 1.4 million sold to schools, the overwelming majority of which didn't consider buying Macs for even a split second. Chances are most of the consumers that bought the remaining 600K (about 1/3 as many as estimated Mac sales) also weren't considering Macs considering the huge difference in average price.

While the continuing increase in Chromebooks sales in interesting, this comparison is nonsense.

I agree with your insight. Fleet sales are making up a large portion of the chromebook success. But if more and more students bring a chromebook home from school and find it usable and "good enough", moms and dads may opt for that when they go into Best Buy.

 

[sracer]

Meanwhile, the Chromebook is about to get a lot better with a boost of Play Store apps. Chrome OS will be a lot more user friendly.

Yes, Google announced access to the Play Store but isn't that really a consolidation of the Google Play Store and Chrome Store and NOT access to Android apps that are in the Play Store?

 

[sk1wbw]

This is like saying that Windows PCs outsold Macs. Whoop dee ****ing doo.

 

[Lloydbm41]

Yes, Google announced access to the Play Store but isn't that really a consolidation of the Google Play Store and Chrome Store and NOT access to Android apps that are in the Play Store?

Nope. Android apps are going to available to Chromebooks (with touch screens). http://m.slashdot.org/story/311423

But you could already run certain Android apps on a Chromebook with the App Runtime for Chrome.

 

[sracer]

Nope. Android apps are going to available to Chromebooks (with touch screens). http://m.slashdot.org/story/311423

But you could already run certain Android apps on a Chromebook with the App Runtime for Chrome.

I'd love to see that fully realized. it will be a game-changer IMO.

 

[jamesrick80]

And that's my point...when Android apps so often are terrible on a tablet...already larger than a phone...why would they be any good on an even larger display that right now usually doesn't have a touch screen? Not seeing how this makes Chromebooks a whole lot better.

It's equivalent to getting excited about having iPhone apps on my Mac...

Exactly the reason why I felt the only tablet to buy was the Galaxy tab S2 if you really wanted a android tablet since most of the apps are blown up phone apps and 4:3 helps this not seem too bad of an experience although the Microsoft office apps on the device are quite good as well as the Tapatalk app....

Otherwise I just recommend people to buy an iPad.....

 

[samcraig]

Chromebooks are $100 dollars and cheap products for the most part while macbooks are $1000....apple can sell one macbook for every 10 chromebooks...sure apple is laughing while heading to the bank.....

I doubt it since Apple has lost a big chunk of the educational market they were hoping to grab with their iPads. While Apple certainly isn't hurting for money - the money they are not making and losing to ChromeOS is nothing to laugh at. As you said (for example) if Chromebooks weren't a viable option - think of the revenue they could have.

This is like saying that Windows PCs outsold Macs. Whoop dee ****ing doo.

Sure seems to matter when there's data suggesting Macs gain more marketshare than Windows in any given year. And clearly you cared enough to post....

 

[sk1wbw]

I doubt it since Apple has lost a big chunk of the educational market they were hoping to grab with their iPads. While Apple certainly isn't hurting for money - the money they are not making and losing to ChromeOS is nothing to laugh at. As you said (for example) if Chromebooks weren't a viable option - think of the revenue they could have.



Sure seems to matter when there's data suggesting Macs gain more marketshare than Windows in any given year. And clearly you cared enough to post....

I ****ing hate when people get stupid and say "you cared enough to post". Like that's bringing something intelligent into the conversation. Google doesn't make Chromebooks, like Microsoft doesn't make Windows computers. It's so stupid to listen to articles lumping every piece of hardware that runs a single OS into one group and then saying they outsell the Mac. Do car magazines run articles about how Toyota sells more cars than the F-150? No.

And no article says the Mac gains more marketshare than Windows. Every single article I've EVER seen says that Macs gain marketshare versus Asus or another brand, NOT the OS.

 

[Lloydbm41]

And that's my point...when Android apps so often are terrible on a tablet...already larger than a phone...why would they be any good on an even larger display that right now usually doesn't have a touch screen? Not seeing how this makes Chromebooks a whole lot better.

It's equivalent to getting excited about having iPhone apps on my Mac...

Please point me out some apps that are not optimized for tablets. Maybe I'm just not seeing all these thousands and thousands of apps, or they are just so niche that only a few people download them and I'm not one of them. I have run across quite a few iPhone apps that do the stupid 1x and 2x scaling and look ridiculous and pixeled out, so maybe Android does a better job of scaling the apps so they still look good? I don't know, because I'm not seeing all the apps you guys are mentioning.

If there are so many, maybe list 10 popular apps that aren't tablet optimized?

 

[tbayrgs]

Please point me out some apps that are not optimized for tablets. Maybe I'm just not seeing all these thousands and thousands of apps, or they are just so niche that only a few people download them and I'm not one of them. I have run across quite a few iPhone apps that do the stupid 1x and 2x scaling and look ridiculous and pixeled out, so maybe Android does a better job of scaling the apps so they still look good? I don't know, because I'm not seeing all the apps you guys are mentioning.

If there are so many, maybe list 10 popular apps that aren't tablet optimized?

I don't have an Android tablet that I use regularly for anything other than some casting of media--Nexus 7 (2013) with a handful of media apps list Netflix, Hulu, Showtime, HBO, Google Play Music, etc purely to send to a Chromecast so I can't directly compare at the moment. The reason I don't have a regular use Android tablet though was because of this issue...many of the apps I used on tablets were just blown up versions of the phone app (single columns, no alternate layouts and additional content when in landscape, etc) vs. more robust versions that I'd use on an iPad. And I'm not alone in this criticism...biggest criticism of the Pixel C review from the Verge was this very issue.

If that's changed dramatically in the last 6 months, great. I just haven't seen or heard any evidence to the contrary. Android N should surely help this issue as having split screen allows those phone apps to be better used on smaller screen sizes. And I will backtrack a bit on my criticism of their use on Chromebooks as I just watched this video on the Verge with what is admittedly a limited/brief demo and it looks really promising. I think the fact that you can window the apps helps a lot. I also wonder what the hardware spec threshold is for a good user experience (he's used the most recent Pixel). Having this on a high quality convertible (like the Surface Book) or on something like the Pixel C (great tablet hardware with high quality keyboard attachment) could be pretty awesome.

 

[Lloydbm41]

I don't have an Android tablet that I use regularly for anything other than some casting of media--Nexus 7 (2013) with a handful of media apps list Netflix, Hulu, Showtime, HBO, Google Play Music, etc purely to send to a Chromecast so I can't directly compare at the moment. The reason I don't have a regular use Android tablet though was because of this issue...many of the apps I used on tablets were just blown up versions of the phone app (single columns, no alternate layouts and additional content when in landscape, etc) vs. more robust versions that I'd use on an iPad. And I'm not alone in this criticism...biggest criticism of the Pixel C review from the Verge was this very issue.

If that's changed dramatically in the last 6 months, great. I just haven't seen or heard any evidence to the contrary. Android N should surely help this issue as having split screen allows those phone apps to be better used on smaller screen sizes. And I will backtrack a bit on my criticism of their use on Chromebooks as I just watched this video on the Verge with what is admittedly a limited/brief demo and it looks really promising. I think the fact that you can window the apps helps a lot. I also wonder what the hardware spec threshold is for a good user experience (he's used the most recent Pixel). Having this on a high quality convertible (like the Surface Book) or on something like the Pixel C (great tablet hardware with high quality keyboard attachment) could be pretty awesome.

I only bring this up, because I have roughly 110 apps on my S2 and only 3 of them are phone apps (those being MMA Underground, Target and Speedtest.net). However, all 3 look fine and aren't pixeled out like I would get on an iPad. All 3 are still perfectly usable, you just have to be in portrait mode.
If this is the average use case, then approx 2% of apps aren't optimized for Android tablets. Is this significant enough to proclaim that app optimization is a hindrance for Android Tablets? Also considering the apps still look and function fine, albeit in portrait mode? IMO, the answer is no. BTW, in my particular use case, 1 app out of 96 apps on my iPad air 2 was not optimized. So, slightly over 1%.

 

[BenTrovato]

These products are in totally different price categories. It's a ridiculous title. On a separate note, the Mac lineup is totally pathetic right now. Everything should be outselling Macs.