NEEDHAM, MA – Tablets saw first quarter year-over-year growth of 55.2% and shipments totaling 39.9 million units, according to International Data Corp.

Growth of this magnitude has not been seen since the third quarter of 2013 when the tablet market grew 56.9% year-over-year, IDC says.

Chromebook shipments totaled 13 million units in the first quarter, up from 2.8 million in the first quarter of 2020.

"While vaccine rollouts and businesses returning to offices may slow down the work-from-home trend, we are still far from returning to ‘normal’ working conditions. Hence the demand for tablets, especially detachables, is expected to continue for a while," said Anuroopa Nataraj, research analyst with IDC's Mobility and Consumer Device Trackers. "However, as buyers increasingly turn toward competing products, such as thin and light notebooks for work or entertainment and Chromebooks for education, the future of tablets will remain under constant competition, leaving the heavy lifting to larger brands such as Apple, Samsung, Amazon, and Microsoft."

Previously, schools around the world showed a strong preference for the tablet form factor due to its low cost and easy manageability. However, the rising popularity of Chromebooks is leaving little room for tablets in markets such as the US, Western Europe, and more recently, Japan, according to the research firm.

"There's no doubt that Chromebooks have supplanted tablets in many education markets. However, price and the dependence on cloud services have prevented them from becoming mainstays in all regions," said Jitesh Ubrani, research manager with IDC's Mobility and Consumer Device Trackers. "Besides, Chromebooks have yet to break into the consumer market in a meaningful way, as competing notebooks as well as tablets, such as the iPad, Galaxy devices, and Fire tablets, maintain a strong presence."