Worldwide Tablet Shipments Post Flat Growth in 2Q22 While Chromebooks Experience a Sharp Decline
August 3, 2022 | IDCEstimated reading time: 1 minute

Worldwide tablet shipments reached 40.5 million units during the second quarter of 2022 (2Q22), posting year-over-year growth of 0.15%, according to preliminary data from the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Personal Computing Device Tracker. Smoother deployments into education projects and several promotional sales, such as the "618" online promotion days in China and Amazon's Prime Day in the U.S., led to better-than-expected shipments in the quarter.
New vendors like Xiaomi, OPPO, vivo, and realme also performed beyond expectations, which contributed to growth in the Android tablet market in the quarter. Meanwhile, Chromebooks continued to decline with shipments down 51.4% year over year to 6 million units in 2Q22. The decline was expected as the inventory buildup is still being cleared out and demand in the education sector has slowed. However, shipment volumes are still above pre-pandemic levels.
"The tablet market performed better than expected despite the inflationary pressures, geopolitical issues, and continued restrictions in China due to Covid," said Anuroopa Nataraj, senior research analyst with IDC's Mobility and Consumer Device Trackers. "There are several factors that are working in favor of tablets: one being the continued demand for tablets as cheaper alternatives to PCs. Also, many top players have been doing a tremendous job with their distribution strategies and have been able to fully supply tablets for several education projects. Also noteworthy is the proliferation of low-cost detachables, especially from new entrants in regions like Asia/Pacific (excluding Japan and China), that are tapping into the demand for devices for education purposes and disrupting the vendor dynamics."
"While Chromebook shipments have trended down in the past few quarters, there's still opportunity to be had as the pandemic has brought about positive changes to Chrome adoption," said Jitesh Ubrani, research manager for IDC's Mobility and Consumer Device Trackers. "The need for remote learning accelerated schools' plans to reach a 1:1 ratio for PCs to students and this ratio will likely continue to hold in the future and even if PC shipments decline in other categories, Chrome will continue at these elevated levels."
Testimonial
"Your magazines are a great platform for people to exchange knowledge. Thank you for the work that you do."
Simon Khesin - Schmoll MaschinenSuggested Items
China Expands Rare Earth Export Restrictions, Tightening Grip on Global Supply Chains
10/16/2025 | I-Connect007 Editorial TeamChina sharply expanded its rare earth export restrictions on Oct. 9, adding additional elements and refining technologies to its control list while imposing stricter rules on foreign users in the defense and semiconductor industries.
Critical Minerals: The New Power Play in Global Trade
10/13/2025 | Marcy LaRont, I-Connect007Access to critical minerals essential for electronics manufacturing, and China’s monopoly of them, is increasingly under scrutiny, with gallium (Ga) and germanium (Ge)at the forefront of this discourse. However, all critical minerals imported from China share a similar narrative, and understanding the implications of this dependency and the risks to both U.S. commercial and defense sectors has created an urgent need for a comprehensive electronics strategy to secure and diversify access to these vital minerals. In this candid interview, USPAE Executive Director Jim Will discusses the issues and the mitigation steps that must be taken to adequately address them.
I-Connect007 Editor’s Choice: Five Must-Reads for the Week
09/26/2025 | Marcy LaRont, I-Connect007Though the news cycle felt a little less exclamatory this week, there were many global business news headlines worth revisiting. Among them, China announced a bold carbon emissions goal of 10% over the next decade to double its solar and wind power capacity. The Wall Street Journal published an article, “Global Port Leaders See Trade Shifting, Not Slowing,” a nod to businesses’ risk mitigation strategies and execution around overreliance on China coming into play in a bigger way.
Global Citizenship: Together for a Perfect PCB Solution
09/10/2025 | Tom Yang -- Column: Global CitizenshipIf there’s one thing we’ve learned in the past few decades of electronics evolution, it’s that no region has a monopoly on excellence. Whether it’s materials science breakthroughs in Europe, manufacturing efficiencies in China, or design innovations in Silicon Valley, the PCB industry thrives on collaboration.
Dan's Biz Bookshelf: 'Apple in China: The Capture of the World’s Greatest Company'
09/04/2025 | Dan Beaulieu -- Column: Dan's Biz BookshelfMost of what we hear about Apple’s relationship with China is half-baked punditry or political noise. However, Patrick McGee’s "Apple in China: The Capture of the World’s Greatest Company" is a tour de force that peels back the PR polish and shows us what’s really going on behind that gleaming bitten fruit.