The most recent U.S. sales data from NPD shows that Apple’s Mac sales ended the June quarter down 10 percent from the same period one year ago.
Despite the dip in domestic sales numbers, Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster notes that data for the month of June shows a bump of 1 percent and expects Mac growth of 5 percent, which is in line with Street estimates. He goes on to say that Apple’s reported Mac growth outpaced NPD’s five percent contraction estimates by 12 points in the March quarter to end up seven percent year over year.
Munster believes that sales momentum seen as a result of Apple’s Mac refresh in early June will carry over into the “back to school” season. That refresh, lead by the new Retina Display MacBook Pro resulted in a per NPD Mac growth of negative 23 percent in May to up one percent in June.
He says iPhone sales will be the real story for the June quarter, and he expects 28 to 29 million units sold compared to a more conservative consensus of 25 to 27 million.
“Regardless of the June number, we believe focus will shift to the iPhone 5, which we expect in October,” Munster writes.
Overall, Apple is estimated to bring in $37.1 billion in revenues for the June quarter, up from 2011’s $28.5 billion.
