Chromebooks have outsold Windows notebooks for the very first time, new data from NPD Group reveals.

US Business-to-business (B2B) sales* of notebooks running Google’s Chrome OS passed 50% between June and early July 2015, with overall education season sales up almost 40% over the same period last year.

‘Notebooks running Google’s Chrome OS passed 50% between June and early July’

It marks the first time of any sales period (so far) that demand for Chromebooks have outstripped that for Windows laptops.

It’s not just Google’s gain, however. Sales of all notebooks have risen sharply, bucking expectations.

Windows notebooks were up 6% — showing that Windows 10 wasn’t a concern for buyers — and Macbook sales rocketed 42% for the same period.

“The results from the end of Q2 and the first half of July are good news for all the major notebook platforms,” Stephen Baker, vice president of industry analysis at The NPD Group, Inc, says in a press release trumpeting the stats.

“MacBooks grew the most of any platform, and Google saw Chrome rise to take the number one spot in market share.”

Although business sales do not include sales to regular consumers the overall trends they represent are usually in keeping.

*An example of B2B sales would be Walmart buying 10,000 Chromebooks from Acer. Sales figures from Walmart selling those 10,000 Chromebooks to consumers would be counted as Business to Consumer (B2C).