2025 Notebook Report

Inside this Report

This report covers the overall market opportunity for rugged clamshell notebooks supporting enterprise and government Line-of-Business (LOB) applications. The analysis includes market sizing and forecasts for rugged notebooks, broken into fully and semi-rugged segmented by region, industry, and application environment. Additional trends around ruggedness and other capabilities are examined. Vendors are profiled at the end of the report.

What Questions are Addressed?

• What is the market outlook for rugged notebooks used in enterprise and government sectors?
• How does the outlook for semi- and fully-rugged markets differ?
• What is the relative opportunity for rugged notebooks by regional markets?
• What is the relative opportunity for rugged notebooks by industry and application environment?
• What trends have emerged regarding rugged notebook design, OS, connectivity, on-device AI, and display?
• What are competitive trends regarding durability, distribution and new solutions?
• How are OEM's addressing sustainability and how do EPEAT ratings affect buyer device selection?

Who Should Read this Report?

This report targets marketing, sales, and product development decision-makers within mobile device OEMs, as well as enterprise and government mobility solution providers and IT leaders responsible for the evaluation and purchase of devices for their government or enterprise agencies.

Organizations Listed in this Report:

Executive Summary

This report includes data and forecasts for the rugged notebook market as it stands in 2025. It is inclusive of semi- rugged and fully-rugged notebooks. After unprecedented growth in 2022 due to a spike in semi-rugged sales, the global rugged notebook market continued to see strong growth in 2023 due to a spike in fully-rugged sales, followed by a market contraction in 2024.

The robust start to the year can be partially attributed to a backlog of sales made in the previous year as well as some purchases made in anticipation of tariffs. Market growth is expected to be bolstered by increased military spending in EMEA in 2025, with a continuation of growth over the next 5 years due to continued military spending, the rise of the AIPC, and Windows 10's end of life.

Key Findings:

• The global rugged notebook market saw a slight contraction in 2024. Following unprecedented growth post- pandemic, the market experienced a cyclical contraction in 2024. In 2025, the semi-rugged market is expected to increase, while the fully-rugged market will continue mild growth
• While market competition and optimization should reduce prices, OEM's are anticipated to raise prices in 2025 due to tariffs, and the average selling price (ASP) of notebooks is expected to increase slightly globally over the next 5 years. While the pandemic was a boon at first for PC sales, market saturation, component shortages and inflation left prices high the past few years. AIPC prices are expected to be high, and may also impact overall ASPs.
• The Americas are currently the largest market for semi- and fully-rugged notebooks and will maintain their position through 2029. Due to exceptional increases in military spending across Europe the EMEA region is anticipated to experience the fastest growth. APAC will experience a growth due to industrialization and infrastructural investments in China, India, and surrounding countries are offset by potential economic constraints due to US tariffs.
• 2024 revenue can be largely attributed to increased military spending and rugged notebooks will continue to be used most by the government sector. Industrial/Manufacturing is the second largest sector in terms of global revenue for rugged notebook, down in 2024. While most sectors contracted in 2024. As investment in connectivity and infrastructure continues across all regions, there is opportunity within the utilities industry, particularly field services environments. Global notebooks sales within the Utilities industry are expected to grow by 2029.
• Market shares between major players remained fairly steady from 2023 to 2024. Dell remains the global market. Panasonic remains a close second and Getac follows with a increase. Dell continues to dominate in the Americas, while Getac remains market leader in EMEA. 2025 Q1 results are strong for all market leaders, with Panasonic experiencing a YoY revenue increase, followed by Dell. While Q1 global revenues suggest a resilient market, fluctuations in quarterly sales are likely to continue.