Are Chromebooks getting demoted in favor of Windows Laptops?
During the pandemic season, Chromebooks quickly rose to become the main cash cow for laptop makers.
This was owing to the fact that employees and students were looking for affordable ways to switch to working remotely. The search was skewed towards the best work from home laptops. The Chromebooks were a budget-friendly option.
Unfortunately, currently, there is a global shortage of components which has resulted in laptop vendors getting into a dilemma on which OS they should prioritize between Chrome and Windows.
Turns out that Chromebooks are receiving the brunt of this component shortage.
It looks like they will be taking a back seat regardless of the sky-high demand for Chrome OS devices. Laptop vendors are prioritizing shipping Windows laptops.
Despite the hot demand for Chrome OS devices which saw an impressive 12.3 million of them shipped within the second quarter of 2021 according to IDC, it still seems that Chromebook lovers will have to contend with a preference for Windows gadgets thanks to this components shortage.
Some of the most affected components include sensors, display panels, chips, audio codecs, and LCD circuits, among others.
Weighing the opportunity cost of working with the limited available components to either make Windows laptops or ChromeOS devices, laptop OEMs have ended up favoring Windows since they can squeeze more profits out of a Windows device sale than a Chrome OS device.
This is not being helped by the fact that there’s also an upcoming Windows 11 launch that vendors would want to cash in on, further pushing Chromebooks back in line for consideration.
Similarly so, they must also compete with Apple’s M1-equipped laptops that are taking over a good chunk of the laptops market.
“The PC OS race is set to be the most hotly contested it has been in a long time,” said IDC analyst Brian Lynch.
We can only wait to see how Chrome OS overcomes these hurdles. Will they win over them, or will they die a natural death?
The post Are Chromebooks losing to Windows Laptops? appeared first on Laptop Verge.
