Mac sales have a drop of 12 percent year on year as users update less frequently

Apple boasted long that is immune to the slowdown that has plagued the rest of the PC industry for much of this decade. On Tuesday night, we realized that it is no longer the case. The company said it had sold 4 million Macs in the quarter ending in March, a decline year after year, and the biggest drop of 12 percent in nine years.

The sales decline also exceeds the recession in the PC industry as a whole. quarterly sales estimates Gartner and IDC estimates that PC sales fell by 9.6 and 11.5 percent for the first quarter. The slowdown also surprised analysts of both companies. Earlier this year, Apple is expected to sell around 4.5 million Macs during the first quarter of 2016.

The results marked the second consecutive quarter of year-over-year, Mac sales fell, as sales declined slightly during the holiday period, too. Before that, Apple ended a run of growth in Mac sales that went all the way back to the fourth quarter of 2013 - a time when most PC makers saw figures quarterly sales fall year after year.

Of course, the sudden slowdown in Mac sales has some wondering why Apple luck has run out. The answer may be no different to that of his brothers PC - consumers do not see the need to update more frequently.

Analysts say there are no signs of a slowdown in the conversion from PC to Mac, slower refresh mode cycles seem to be the most logical explanation. With PC hardware innovation far surpassing the needs of the software, applications run properly for longer, which in turn gives the consumer less reason to upgrade.

Add to this lack of innovation in the Mac OS X itself: is largely the same operating system that was at its launch over a decade, and the refusal of Apple to add new attractive features like touchscreens to their systems still it offers less reason to upgrade.

Despite the problems of sales, Apple remains optimistic. During its earnings conference call Tuesday, CEO Tim Cook said Mac sales reached internal expectations, and CFO Luca Maestri said it was "one fourth challenge for the sale of personal computers throughout the industry."

What remains to be seen is how much more difficult it will become for both PC manufacturers and Apple.