
Apple’s recently updated iMac lineup is expected to help dramatically boost the company’s desktop shipments, which are forecast to be down 79% year-to-year for the third calendar quarter according to analyst estimates. KGI securities analyst, Ming-Chi Kuo estimated that Apple’s desktop shipments will be down to 264,000 for the company’s fourth fiscal quarter of 2012, which represents a whipping 79% drop from the same period one year ago.
The forecast of Mac desktop shipments was cut by over 63% due to the new iMac’s later-than-expected arrival. Back in August, Kuo’s supply chain checks pointed to a September launch date for Apple’s newest all-in-one; however several production stalls blamed on low display lamination yields pushed the announcement back to October. Coupled with a ramp-down of the previous iMac models which started to surface back in July and August, overall sales plummeted.
Despite the poor third-quarter forecast, Kuo expects shipments to pick up during the holiday season, with predictions of growing 434% quarter-on-quarter mostly thanks to expected strong demand for the newly-announced iMac, which is currently set to hit stores in November. Even with the large quarter-to-quarter growth, Kuo estimates iMac shipments will hit 1.4 million at the end of the year, still representing a 5% decline from the year ago period. With shipping difficulties still lingering in October, overall Mac desktop performance is expected to hit 3.8 million units in the fourth quarter, down 21% year-to-year. We’ll have to see how well the predictions hold up once the refreshed iMac is released and the official numbers roll in.
Source: AppleInsider
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