It took a pandemic for Chromebooks to finally start thinking about India

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Much like smartphones, most laptop purchases in India occur in the lower section of the price spectrum. By that measure, you might expect Chromebooks to be in all local storefronts, but that’s far from the truth. India is largely a market for Windows laptops, and this sponsorship has left Chromebooks with virtually no room to be relevant. But things started to take a positive turn for Google’s budget laptops when the world came to a sudden halt last year.

It’s not like Chromebooks haven’t gotten a chance to prove themselves in the region. Until a few years ago, there were a few good options available from almost all the big name laptop makers. But at the time, Chrome OS was nothing but a browser and didn’t make sense on a more complete operating system like Windows. On top of that, the base prices for Windows laptops and Chromebooks were pretty close, which put Microsoft’s OS in a much better position, while the latter continued to be kind of new.

Until last year, your only option was to buy a premium Chromebook from HP, which made absolutely no financial sense in a country like India.

Always connected laptops have also been a huge obstacle for most of the internet-hungry Indians. And Google’s marketing, or rather the lack of it, for Chrome OS didn’t help either. (Google has also consistently failed to direct its efforts beyond the bottom line of India’s smartphone market, leaving the booming middle class feeling abandoned.) The country’s connectivity issues have been largely resolved in the post-Jio era, but Google’s approach hasn’t. . t really catch up. Most buyers still don’t fully understand what Chrome OS is — or worse, that it already exists and could be a better option for certain use cases.

All of this together contributed to a slow but steady decline in Chromebooks from the Indian market, to the point where it was almost impossible to find a device. Until last year, your only option was to buy a premium Chromebook from HP, which made absolutely no financial sense in a country like India, while importing a unit from the US would add a higher price tag with all the import duties.

Although India remains a smartphone market first, demand for laptops soared, as elsewhere, when the pandemic hit early last year, sending offices and classrooms online overnight. However, Chromebooks weren’t available to just about everyone, just like my sister, a teacher, who went shopping for a laptop and ended up getting a Windows machine. But I wouldn’t blame buyers like her for the general perception of Chrome OS and the complete lack of options.

Chromebooks obviously won’t suddenly sweep the market, but they posted a (very) slight increase in sales.

But what this staggering increase in laptop sales has done is allow companies to at least test the situation again, with quite a few Chromebook models popping up here and there over the past year. It was clear that Chromebooks wouldn’t suddenly sweep the market, but they posted a (very) slight increase in sales compared to the previous year. That was a sign enough for Asus to commit to a larger batch of Chromebooks for India recently, although it came more than a year after the pandemic first emerged. But this is a welcome step nonetheless.

The best part about these Chromebooks is that they’re very affordable and don’t unnecessarily try to compete with Windows laptops — which is what got them out of business in the first place. Take the Asus lineup, for example; You get a convertible laptop for less than 24,000 rupees (about $325), which is unheard of on Windows, while the standard Oyster costs even less. And it’s not as if these devices compromise on convenience and expiration to lower prices; If anything, it’s more practical for Zoom calls, online classes, and maybe even as a secondary mobile device.

Over all these years Chrome OS has grown from just a browser window to being more capable without taxing more hardware. It can run Android apps surprisingly well and comes with industry-leading software support. And with just about everything available on the web — even powerful photo editors like Photopea — getting an expensive Windows or Mac laptop on a Chromebook seemed like a bad idea to buy my own (though it didn’t take long for me to To undo this thinking.

Chromebooks still have a long way to go in India, but with fairer prices, they now at least have a clear chance at it.

However, the truth is that most people would be more comfortable buying an iPad over a Chromebook if getting a “light” operating system was a priority. With a share of only 0.14%, Chrome OS is at the bottom of the Indian desktop market, which is one of the main reasons why Google’s operating system is not widely known. It would take a collective and equal push from both Google and the manufacturers of these notebooks to break out of that cycle and make it into the mainstream. Chromebooks still have a long way to go in India, but with fairer prices, they now at least have a clear chance at it.

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