A 4.3 Million Mac Quarter for Apple?

Apple is headed toward another record-breaking quarter for Mac sales. That’s the indication from the latest NPD retail data, anyway. Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster looked over NPD’s numbers for the first month of the September quarter and figures Apple is on pace to sell between 4.1 million and 4.3 million Macs during the holiday shopping binge–which is in line with Wall Street expectations of 4.2 million.

“This early data, along with our assumptions for international Mac sales, which are growing faster than domestic Mac sales, and the final 2 months of the quarter, implies (year over year) Mac unit growth of 22%-28%, in line with the Street at about 24% y/y growth,” Munster wrote, adding Apple may see an additional bump thanks to the new MacBook Air. “We note that the all new 11″ MacBook Air launched on 10/20 alongside a redesigned 13″ model, and we believe the first full month of new MacBook Airs (Nov.) could also drive unit growth in the quarter.”