LEAD: Apple reports record profits and sales

Jan 24, 2012, 22:28 GMT

San Francisco - Apple sold a record 37 million iPhones in fiscal first quarter and 15.4 million iPads as it posted record revenue of 46.33 billion dollars and record quarterly profit of 13 billion dollars.

Its iPhone sales represented a 128-per-cent increase over sales in the year earlier quarter, while sales of iPads rose 111 per cent.

The revenue figure represented a 73-per-cent jump over the year earlier quarter, while profit rose by 118 per cent. Apple also said that its Mac computers bucked the downward industry trend for computer sales, rising 26 per cent to 5.2 million units.

'This is even better than expected,' analyst Mike Walkley of Canaccord told Marketwatch. 'It's remarkable that the iPhone 4S with Siri created such a huge upgrade cycle.'

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

The latest fiscal first quarter marks the first reporting period to include the new iPhone 4S, which went on sale in October. It also marked the first full earnings period with Cook as CEO. Company founder Steve Jobs stepped down as CEO in the fourth quarter last year and died a few weeks later.

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