Record iPhone, iPad and Mac sales power Apple quarterly results Apple, the world's biggest technology company, beat analysts' expectations with its latest quarterly results.

The Cupertino, California-based company said on Tuesday that its profit in its first fiscal quarter more than doubled, the precipitous uptick fueled by the strength of its wildly popular iPhone 4S. Aside from its jump in net income, Apple also posted record revenue for its latest fiscal quarter, logging $46.33 billion in the 14 weeks ending December 31, 2011.

Apple's profit of $13.06 billion – $13.87 per diluted share – was more than 100 percent higher than the $6 billion it posted in the same period in 2010. Its revenue also surged compared to $26.74 billion from the year before, while the company's. gross margin climbed to 44.7 percent, up from 38.5 percent in 2010.

Apple's stellar earnings were supported by record sales of its iPhone, iPad and Macbook offerings. The company said it sold 37.04 million iPhones in the quarter, a 128 percent surge from the year before. What's more, Apple said iPad sales jumped 111 percent to 15.43 million units, with Mac sales climbing 26 percent to 5.2 million.

Since Apple unveiled the iPhone in 2007, the company has sold more than 183 million of the devices. The success of the iPhone and the iPad has eaten into the popularity of the company's iPod, however, as sales fell 21 percent in the quarter. The tech giant reported sales of 15.4 million units.

Apple has continued to upgrade and innovate with its line of product offerings over the past decade. The company has also implemented business cost reduction measures, overhauled supply chain management and reworked indirect spend and spend management.  The strategy has helped galvanize earnings, as sales of the iPhone and iPad now account for nearly 75 percent of the company's total revenue.

"We're thrilled with our outstanding results and record-breaking sales of iPhones, iPads and Macs," Apple chief executive Tim Cook said in a statement. "Apple's momentum is incredibly strong, and we have some amazing new products in the pipeline."

Apple has hoards of cash at its disposal, money the company has famously been loath to spend. Company chief financial officer Peter Oppenheimer asserted robust earnings in its latest fiscal quarter would add to the firm's already overstuffed company coffers.

"We are very happy to have generated over $17.5 billion in cash flow from operations during the December quarter," he noted. "Looking ahead to the second fiscal quarter of 2012, which will span 13 weeks, we expect revenue of about $32.5 billion and we expect diluted earnings per share of about $8.50."

Apple has presided over one of the longest streaks of earnings growth in modern corporate history. Until its 2011 fourth fiscal quarter, the company had beat analysts' expectations since 2002. While sales did not rise as significantly as forecast in the three months ending in September 2011, Cook agued consumers delayed new iPhone purchases in anticipation of the unveiling of the 4S.

Google's Android operating system has eaten into the iPhone's dominance, but Apple has successfully chipped away at the global smartphone market over the past few years. The firm lowered prices of older-model iPhones when it launched the 4S, and it has expanded coverage across three of the nation's major telecommunications providers.

The New York Times reports that the number of Americans who reported owning an Android phone dropped last year between October and December, as more iPhone owners indicated they planned to purchase the latest iteration of the popular mobile device.

Investors were impressed by the company's earnings announcement, as shares jumped more than 8 percent in trading.

 
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