Apple Sells 5.5 Million Macs In Q1 2015

Apple sold 5.5 million Macs over the holiday quarter (ending December 28), according to the company’s Q1 2015 earnings report released today. Analysts estimated that Apple would sell 5.68 million Macs this quarter, putting the electronics maker just under estimates but still showing growth YOY.

With this past quarter’s 5.5 million units sold, Apple totally flat in the category from 5.5 million units sold last quarter.

Last year during the same time frame, Apple sold 4.8 million Mac units, representing 14 percent growth year-over-year.

In terms of hardware sales, Macs represent a growth opportunity for Apple. iPhones and iPads have dominated the market and are leaders in product categories they helped define. The Mac product line (while performing relatively well) hasn’t dominated its respective category the way that Apple’s mobile devices have, leaving lots of room for growth.

Apple’s Mac hardware improvements, like the light and thin MacBook Air and high-resolution Retina displays, have aided in the growth of the product line for Apple. But more recent updates to software, like an OS X system that integrates with iOS, are leveraging the ubiquity of Apple’s other products to create an ecosystem of electronics wholly designed by Apple.

The ‘Post-PC era’ may not be quite what we expected. Turns out, it isn’t a single device that we seek, but many devices in many sizes. Laptop and desktop computers are a crucial part of that and Apple is expected to continue investing in the area.

In fact, rumors suggest that Apple is working on a 12-inch MacBook Air with an edge-to-edge keyboard design and no ports, save for a 3.5mm audio jack and a single USB-C port. Whether or not that bold decision will pay off is a question for tomorrow’s consumer.

For now, Apple is up in the Mac department heading into 2015.