The Mac Was a Surprise Hit in Apple's Earnings Report, Bests iPad Sales

While everyone had their eyes on iPhone and iPad sales, the surprise hit for Apple last quarter was its Mac line.

The company sold $6.6 billion worth of Macintosh computers, up 18 percent in a PC market that has been stagnant. That figure, combined with a dip in iPad sales, also meant that Apple made more from its Macs than from iPads.

CEO Tim Cook said that he was “especially proud” of the Mac results, which gave Apple its best PC market share position since 1995 and made Apple one of the five biggest computer sellers in the world.

“It was just an absolutely blow-away quarter — our best ever,” Cook effused during a conference call with analysts. “It’s just absolutely stunning.”

The iPad, meanwhile, had another tough quarter with sales of 12.3 million iPads, a drop from the nearly 14.1 million tablets sold a year ago. The company is clearly hoping its newer, thinner iPads, unveiled last week, will help boost sales for the holiday quarter.

Apple noted that it reduced the amount of inventory by about 500,000 iPads and also pointed to surveys showing a large number of customers still planning to buy an Apple tablet.

“Customers continue to love their iPad,” CFO Luca Maestri told analysts.

The comments came after Apple released quarterly earnings well ahead of expectations, thanks to the Mac business as well as strong iPhone demand. Revenue from iPad was weaker than expected.

Cook said that he didn’t see the tablet market as saturated and that he is not overly concerned with the dip in iPad sales. People do seem to be holding onto their tablets longer, Cook said, but added that he sees catalysts for future growth.

“We want to grow,” he said. “We don’t like negative numbers.”

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

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