The Asia-Pacific region lead the growth in Mac sales last quarter, as shipments increased 40 percent over last year. Growth in the region offset the negative year-over-year growth experienced in the U.S. and Europe.
Shipments were down in the U.S. and Europe because Apple didn’t update any of its Mac lineup in the first quarter of calendar 2012. But the lack of new products didn’t hinder growth in Asia-Pacific, where Apple easily outpaced the overall PC market’s year-over-year growth of just 3.6 percent.
The increase in the Asia-Pacific market allowed global Mac shipments to grow 6.9 percent in the March quarter, when Apple once again outpaced the overall growth of PC shipments. The worldwide PC market saw its shipments increase by only 2.2 percent year over year in the March quarter.
“We believe the slowdown (in the March quarter) can be attributed primarily to the absence of any upgrades of Mac models during the quarter, which has typically been a catalyst for shipment growth,” analyst Charlie Wolf with Needham & Company wrote in a note to investors on Thursday. “However, we expect Apple to upgrade both the iMac and MacBooks in June, in advance of the back-to-school buying season.”
Rumors are suggesting Apple will introduce new Macs at its annual Worldwide Developers Conference during the keynote presentation on June 11th. Apple is expected to introduce new MacBook Pros with Retina Displays and a thinner design, along with new iMacs that could receive a Retina display upgrade.
The lack of new Macs in the March quarter didn’t appear to hurt Apple in the business market, as Mac sales grew by 10.4 over last year, easily outpacing Windows, which saw its business sale grow a tiny 0.1 percent.
Wolf also stated that while the iPad has “undoubtedly” cannibalized sales of the Mac from Apple, iPad sales are growing at a much faster rate than Mac sales, which he says is an indication that the iPad is taking a “much bigger bite” out of Windows based PC sales.
