NPD data may point to 4.2 million Macs during Apple Q3
updated 05:55 pm EDT, Mon July 18, 2011
Figure could beat holiday sales
NPD's calculated US sales figures for the June quarter suggest total Mac sales between 4 and 4.2 million units, says Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster. US numbers are reported to be up 12 percent year-over-year. The figure compares against a Street consensus for worldwide sales, estimating an increase between 15 and 22 percent.
Should Apple push closer to the 4.2 million mark, it could beat its previous record for quarterly Mac sales, set during the holiday quarter that ended in December. Apple sold 4.1 million units during that period, thanks in part to an overhauled MacBook Air. "Note that domestic NPD has understated Apple's worldwide growth rates by about 5 percentage points over the last several quarters," Munster writes. "We also note that we estimate that Mac revenue will represent just 22% of overall revenue in (calendar year 2011)."
Apple might have done better in the last quarter had US Mac sales not slowed down 7 percent in the month of June itself. Munster blames "consumer anticipation of the new Mac operating system, Lion," as well the expectation that new MacBook Airs are due this month. Conversely, American Mac sales were up 15 percent over the course of April and May.
The final tally for the June quarter will be announced by Apple tomorrow, with a results conference call taking place at 5PM Eastern time, or 2PM Pacific.
