Chromebooks surpass Macs in U.S. sales for the first time
Chromebook shipments in the U.S. surpassed Mac sales for the first time in the first quarter of 2016, the Verge confirmed with IDC.
"Chrome OS overtook Mac OS in the US in terms of shipments for the first time in 1Q16," IDC analyst Linn Huang told the Verge. "Chromebooks are still largely a US K-12 story."
Indeed, Chromebooks made up more than 50 percent of new devices in schools, as Rajen Sheth, a product manager of Google Enterprise, reminded reporters at Google I/O on Wednesday. Google is trying to boost its appeal for educators even further with a new API that lets developers sync grades and assignment data between apps and Google Classroom.
Meanwhile, Google's budget-friendly laptop could gain even wider appeal now that Android apps are being added to the Chrome OS.
The first quarter of 2016 was rough for the PC market, as IDC reported last month, with shipments to the U.S. falling 5.8 percent to 13.6 million units. Mac shipments actually rose 5.6 percent to nearly 1.8 million, meaning Chromebooks must also have double-digit market share.