Mac sales growing faster for Apple in China than US

Analyst Ben A. Reitzes with Barclays Capital said in a note to investors on Wednesday that Apple's growth in China now extends beyond the iPhone and iPad, with Mac sales there also continuing to outpace the U.S. Reitzes believes that Apple's total global sales will be up 22 percent year over year, thanks largely to rapid expansion in China.

"We believe Mac sales remain relatively strong even as the economy weakens, benefitting from new stores in China and strong sales of the MacBook Air," he said. "Even though the economy and HDD shortages are concerns that could limit upside, we remain comfortable with our estimate for 22% (year over year) Mac unit growth for (the fourth quarter of calendar 2011) given overseas momentum -- especially in China where growth is much higher."

Last April Apple reported 76 percent growth in its Mac platform in the Asia-Pacific region, compared to 25 percent in North America. But those figures represented an entire region, while Reitzes believes Apple's greatest growth will come from one nation: China.

A poll released last November found that Apple was the most desirable PC brand in all of China. A survey of 1,553 Chinese consumers revealed that 21 percent of respondents were considering a Mac for their next PC purchase. Apple's continued worldwide growth in Mac sales has seen it continually outpace the rest of the PC market. Just last week, Gartner revealed that Apple was the No. 3 PC maker in the U.S., riding high on industry-leading 20.9 percent growth during the last quarter.