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2021 will continue to see a boom in PC sales, but as the pandemic recedes, analysts think that the market will start spending money on other things. Analyst firm IDC issued a forecast as part of its Worldwide Quarterly Personal Computing Device Tracker.

The firm predicts that Chromebooks will surge by 33.5% during this year and projects that more than 43 million units will ship out of factories. By 2022, the firm predicts that sales will recede. That is a reversal, compared to the 275% growth that Canalys, a rival analyst firm, recorded for Chromebooks last year.

A slump is coming

The outlook for tablet devices is even worse since IDC forecasts that even though the sales of those devices will grow by 1.8% in 2021, it is still short of the double digits the industry enjoyed in 2020. As Anuroopa Nataraj, the analyst for IDC’s mobility and consumer device trackers team puts it, sales for tablets and Chromebooks greatly increased in 2020 because of the move to remote working and learning environments. He added that demand for keenly priced and multifunctional devices suited to the new hybrid environment would remain high in 2021.

When the lockdown ends

By 2022, people will spend their money on other things, having already bought what they need to be set up for home learning or working environments. Nataraj wrote that beyond 2021, both categories will struggle as consumer demand and educational needs slow down.

The relaxation of lockdown restrictions means that people will spend money on things like travel and other types of entertainment that don’t involve sitting in the living room. IDC predicts that Chromebook sales will see a spike in 2025 but that tablet sales will continue to slump for several years to come.