Mac Shipments Fall 4% Year-Over-Year As Customers Await Hardware Updates

Mac shipments have fallen 4% year over year as customers await updates that will bring Ivy Bridge to the MacBook Pro, iMac, and hopefully the Mac Pro.

In a research note released on Thursday Morgan Stanley said that although the U.S. retail market improved in March, Apple's shipment growth atrophied, falling 4% year over year, reports AppleInsider.

This is likely because Apple is waiting for Intel's Ivy Bridge processors to launch on April 29th before releasing updates to its Mac lineup. A new thinner MacBook Pro is expected this month and new iMacs are predicted for June-July. It's still unclear if Apple plans to keep the Mac Pro computer alive; however, a recent report said that Apple may be waiting on Ivy Bridge for this model as well.


Huberty expects faster international growth of the current and yet-to-be-released MacBook Pro and MacBook Air product lines to somewhat offset the early 2012 deceleration. Previous estimates from Morgan Stanley were looking at a 15 percent global Mac unit growth. She goes on to say that the divergence between domestic and international growth has jumped from a previous 4 points to 15 points during the last quarter of 2011.

"More importantly, we expect demand upside from iPhone and iPad (83% of gross profit) to more than offset any Mac downside (9% of gross profit)," Huberty wrote.

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