Mac sales poised for record-breaking quarter

By Rick Marshall September 13, 2011

The recent arrival of Mac OS X Lion and refreshed MacBook Air and Mac mini models could translate to around 4.5 million Mac sales this quarter, according to a new report on the Cupertino company’s marketplace performance.

Analyst Gene Munster with Piper Jaffray said this week that he expects the current 22-percent surge in Mac sales to drop in September, but stay strong enough for the company to break its previous single-quarter record. The previous record was set in the holiday quarter of 2010, when 4.1 million Macs were sold.

Munster’s figures are based on data from research firm NPD, which tracked Mac sales in July and August. In July, sales reached a high of 26 percent over the previous year, though Munster expects that number to level out in the current month.

The chief reason for the surge in sales reportedly rests on the shoulders of Mac OS X Lion, which arrived in July and broke many of the previous records for Mac operating systems.

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