Following last year’s iMac refresh, Apple saw 23.7% sequential growth and UBS analyst Maynard Um with UBS expects the same thing to happen this year with the revved iMac line-up.

“Apple continues to provide more value,” he said in a note to clients — as reported by “AppleInsider” (http://www.appleinsider.com), noting that the four basic iMac configurations held their same prices with improved internal hardware, “and we expect it to continue to gain share in the PC market.”

Desktop Macs have fallen from more than 50% of the company’s Mac shipments in 2006 to 26% of total units in the second fiscal quarter of 2011.

However, “Mac desktop sales have also seen a significant boost when Apple issues an update for its flagship product in that category, the iMac,” notes “AppleInsider.” “In Apple’s first fiscal quarter of 2010, when the iMac hardware was completely redesigned with an edge-to-edge glass display, desktop sales increased by 70% year over year.”