New Delhi, Feb 1 (IANS): The global Chromebook market enjoyed new heights of success in Q4 2020, as the overall market almost quadrupled in size over the same period a year ago, according to a new report.

HP maintained top spot in the market with 3.5 million units shipped, up 235 per cent year-on-year.

Lenovo placed second in the Chromebook market, having managed to greatly ramp up production to hit 2.8 million units for a massive 1,766 per cent growth," according to the report by market research firm Canalys.

"Demand for Chromebooks is through the roof. With many countries being forced to accelerate their digital education plans in the wake of additional lockdowns, schools and universities are clamouring for easy to deploy solutions and Google's digital offerings for education are proving quite popular over rival platforms, especially in the US and Western Europe," explained Canalys Research Director Rushabh Doshi.

Acer and Dell also maintained their spots in Q4, with each shipping around 1.5 million units. Samsung edged out Asus to grab fifth place, shipping just over a million units, 630 per cent more than a year ago.

"With governments in many countries racing towards a much needed 1:1 device to student ratio, Chromebook demand for education is expected to remain strong through 2021," said Doshi.

"Outside education, there has also been mounting interest from consumers and traditional commercial customers in seeking out Chromebooks to ensure affordable continuity of business or personal computing."