In a rough market for total sales of computers, Apple shines as a major bright spot, according to the latest sales data picked up by Piper Jaffray’s Gene Munster. With its positive performance in recent quarters, the Cupertino-based manufacturer could be due to break records in the period from July to September by selling 5.1 million Macs in this quarter.

Munster based his forecast on United States sales data from the NPD Group. From the wider view, demand for computers looks bleak: total sales in the country suffered a 7 percent year-on-year decline from July to August.

However, he pointed out that Apple has bucked this trend, and actually outpaced the rest of the market by 12 percent in the first two quarters of the year. In line with these figures, the analyst pointed out that sales of Macs would enjoy 5 percent year-on-year growth in the third quarter of the year.

While this quarter has been devoid of new Mac announcements, Apple could still be feeling the afterglow of the launch of the 15-inch Retina MacBook Pro, buttressed by the increased demand due to the back-to-school season.

Apple has intensified its focus on the iPhone and the iPad, and the share of these devices in the company’s bottom line has only grown over the past few years.

Despite this increased emphasis, Macs continue to be a significant player in the company’s business plan. While the September 12 event is likely to be dedicated to the iPhone 5, a variety of new Macs – including a 13-inch Retina MacBook and new iMac all-in-ones – are still expected to arrive sometime in the fourth quarter of the year.