Why You Can Trust CNET Microsoft beware: Google Chromebooks could surge
Chromebook shipments could spike in the second half of the year. That's not good news for Microsoft, which is seeing falling laptop deliveries.
Shipments of Chromebooks based on Google's Chrome operating system will surge in the second half of this year, according to an Asia-based report.
Shipments could be "double or even triple" the number in the first half of the year, according to a report Monday in Digitimes that cites unnamed electronics component suppliers.
The report attributes the expected surge partly to "weak demand for Windows 8" and as a way for companies like Asus "to counter Microsoft's dominance."
In addition to Asus, vendors slated to boost the number of Chromebook models include Acer, Hewlett-Packard, Samsung, and Lenovo.
Acer will up its shipments by three fold, while Samsung is eying a four fold increase, the report said.
It is estimated that Chromebooks from Google, Acer and Samsung hold between 20 percent and 25 percent of the sub-$300 laptop market in the U.S., according to the report.
Though Chrome OS has been dinged in the past for not being a "full-time OS," Google's "pace of improvement"...is ambitious," said CNET reviews.
Price alone makes Chromebooks attractive. Samsungs $249 Chromebook has been a consistent bestseller on Amazon. As has Acer's $220 Chromebook.
Windows 8 laptops typically start at around $599. Overall, deliveries of Windows laptops have been falling on a quarterly basis, according to IDC and Gartner.