New MacBook Pro to Drive Strong First Quarter Mac Sales Growth?
Business Insider reports that Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster has just released a new research note sharing data from NPD on Apple's first quarter Mac and iPod sales in the United States. According to the data, Apple's new MacBook Pro released in late February led to a tremendous surge in Mac sales during the month of March, with total Mac unit sales up 47% year-over-year.
That strong performance follows 20% year-over-year growth in January and 12% growth in February, yielding a cumulative year-over-year Mac growth rate of 27% for the quarter. Consequently, Munster estimates quarterly Mac sales at close to 3.7 million units, slightly ahead of Wall Street consensus estimates. Apple shipped just under 3 million Macs in its March quarter last year, a quarter that is usually one of Apple's lighter sales periods following strong back-to-school sales in the September quarter and holiday sales in the December quarter.
On the iPod side, NPD's data suggests quarterly sales of 9.8-10.3 million units, in line with Wall Street estimates and down 5-10% from last year as Apple's maturing iPod line continues to shrink as consumers increasingly turn to the iPhone and iPad for their needs. Munster notes that the iPod data is somewhat less accurate than the Mac data, given the high international representation in iPod sales and NPD's focus on only the U.S. market.
Apple is set to announce earnings this Wednesday at approximately 4:30 PM Eastern Time after the stock market close.
Popular Stories
Following nearly two years of rumors about a fourth-generation iPhone SE, The Information today reported that Apple suppliers are finally planning to begin ramping up mass production of the device in October of this year. If accurate, that timeframe would mean that the next iPhone SE would not be announced alongside the iPhone 16 series in September, as expected. Instead, the report...
Key details about the overall specifications of the iPhone 17 lineup have been shared by the leaker known as "Ice Universe," clarifying several important aspects of next year's devices. Reports in recent months have converged in agreement that Apple will discontinue the "Plus" iPhone model in 2025 while introducing an all-new iPhone 17 "Slim" model as an even more high-end option sitting...
Apple supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo today shared alleged specifications for a new ultra-thin iPhone 17 model rumored to launch next year. Kuo expects the device to be equipped with a 6.6-inch display with a current-size Dynamic Island, a standard A19 chip rather than an A19 Pro chip, a single rear camera, and an Apple-designed 5G chip. He also expects the device to have a...
Apple typically releases its new iPhone series around mid-September, which means we are about two months out from the launch of the iPhone 16. Like the iPhone 15 series, this year's lineup is expected to stick with four models – iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro, and iPhone 16 Pro Max – although there are plenty of design differences and new features to take into account. To bring ...
Apple’s iCloud Private Relay service is down for some users, according to Apple’s System Status page. Apple says that the iCloud Private Relay service may be slow or unavailable. The outage started at 2:34 p.m. Eastern Time, but it does not appear to be affecting all iCloud users. Some impacted users are unable to browse the web without turning iCloud Private Relay off, while others are...
