Apple's MacBook sales growth may outpace both iPhone and iPad this year

KGI Securities' Ming-Chi Kuo, working off of supply chain intel, predicted that year-over-year MacBook shipments will grow 13 percent to 16 percent in 2018, significantly ahead of projected growth for the iPhone (4-6 percent) and iPad (7-10 percent), according to a writeup of the analysis by StreetInsider.

MacBook shipments, Kuo said in the note, will grow between 60 percent and 80 percent in the second quarter over the same period last year, as new models ship, although 65 percent to 70 percent of the year's shipments will come in the second half of the year, as per the normal distribution of hardware sales, given Apple's historical release cycle.

Earlier this month, Kuo predicted that Apple will put out a lower-cost MacBook Air in the second quarter of 2018 — which is likely what he is basing some of his predictions on.