Cihra expects Mac sales to grow by 26 percent next year, while the broader industry sees only a 16 percent increase. Growth like that would give Apple a four percent share of the market, leaving “considerable headroom” for future sales, says Cihra (see charts; click to enlarge).

Not all that surprising really. Apple (AAPL) shipped a record 3.05 million Macs in its latest quarter, a 16.4 percent increase, which far exceeded the 2.3 percent growth the PC market saw. How is the company doing it?

Simple: Apple dominates the home market. As Needham & Co. senior analyst Charlie Wolf noted in a research report earlier this week, one out every 10 dollars spent on home computers worldwide goes to Apple. And in the U.S., the company claims more than one in five.

“The twin drivers of the Mac’s rebound were the home market’s continued share gains in the PC market and the Mac’s share gains in the home market itself,” Wolf wrote. “Shipments in the worldwide home market increased 18.1 percent compared to an 11.5 percent decline in all other PC segments, while Mac shipments in the home market increased 28.8 percent. In the Western European home market, shipments rose an impressive 58.9 percent.”

Given Wolf’s analysis and Cihra’s prediction, it will be interesting to see what sort of marker share Apple ends up with come 2011.

[Image Credit: Apple Insider and Needham & Co.]

Still, the PC industry is feeling the effect of the economic meltdown. “The U.S. home market saw definite softness,” said Gartner analyst Mika Kitagawa. “The global PC market finally felt the impact from global economic downturn.”

The fastest growing computer segment in the quarter: mini-notebooks. “The mini-notebook segment experienced strong growth in the global PC, led by robust growth in the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region,” said Kitagawa. “In the North America market, the economic crunch created more interest in the sub-$500 segment. Because the mini-notebook is still a new segment, it is too early to determine if the emerging segment created new market opportunities or if it cannibalized lower priced systems.”

Seems the volatility in the world’s economy hasn’t undermined interest in new PCs so much as refocused it on a new category.

One last point worth noting here, in light of Tuesday MacBook event. Apple (AAPL) continues to exceed industry growth in laptop sales. As Apple COO Tim Cook noted yesterday, “Several quarters in a row, we’ve been growing two to three times the market growth.”

Still, the PC industry is feeling the effect of the economic meltdown. “The U.S. home market saw definite softness,” said Gartner analyst Mika Kitagawa. “The global PC market finally felt the impact from global economic downturn.”

The fastest growing computer segment in the quarter: mini-notebooks. “The mini-notebook segment experienced strong growth in the global PC, led by robust growth in the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region,” said Kitagawa. “In the North America market, the economic crunch created more interest in the sub-$500 segment. Because the mini-notebook is still a new segment, it is too early to determine if the emerging segment created new market opportunities or if it cannibalized lower priced systems.”

Seems the volatility in the world’s economy hasn’t undermined interest in new PCs so much as refocused it on a new category.

One last point worth noting here, in light of Tuesday MacBook event. Apple (AAPL) continues to exceed industry growth in laptop sales. As Apple COO Tim Cook noted yesterday, “Several quarters in a row, we’ve been growing two to three times the market growth.”