Chromebook Sales Could Hit 7.5 million This Year

Chromebooks are Google’s take on portable computing. Many manufacturers have opted to build light and portable notebooks that run on Chrome OS and they have seen wide endorsement. Some like Samsung have even abandoned Microsoft Windows in favor of Chrome OS.

Their popularity is not because they are powerhouses or feature-rich like most high-end Windows or Mac OSX notebooks. What they have is a very lightweight operating system which not only makes Chromebooks faster but also less complicated to use. Low cost is another factor which has made it a suitable option for the education sector and students where the major requirement is to type assignments and surf the web.

Low cost, ease of use and portability are the main advantages of Chromebooks

A report from Gartner estimates that Chromebooks will see increased sales in 2015. Shipments are estimated to rise to 7.5 million this year. In comparison, 2014 saw 5.7 million chromebooks shipped. An increase of 1.8 million represents a rise of more than 31 percent, which is definitely impressive.

Affordable price is what makes Chromebooks a very appealing prospect for anyone from students to professionals on-the-go who require something light and less powerful. Google’s ever increasing app count and quality makes the Chrome OS devices even more valuable. The company recently took steps and brought Android apps to Chrome OS and even made the conversion of Android apps to Chrome apps a much simpler task.

According to Principal Analyst Gartner, Isabelle Durand

Since the first model launched in mid-2011, Google’s Chromebook has seen success mainly in the education segment across all regions. In 2014, the education sector purchased 72% of Chromebooks in EMEA, 69% in Asia Pacific, and 60% in the US.

Large scale sales outside of US, more productive apps and high-end Chromebooks expected in 2015 could prove to be a major selling point for Chromebooks this year.