Apple is celebrating another record-breaking quarter as profits jumped nearly 50% on the back of impressive iPhone sales, which doubled compared to the year ago quarter.
The busy pre-Christmas sales period helped the company to revenue of $15.68bn (£9.71bn), an increase of 32% on the same quarter a year ago. Profits jumped 49% to $3.38bn (£2.09bn).
The Cupertino, California-based firm said that it sold 8.7 million iPhones during the last three months of 2009, double the amount it sold during the same period of 2008. Sales in the UK were helped by the end of O2’s exclusivity deal as Orange also started selling the iPhone during the quarter. Apple also started shifting it in China. Sales of Macs rose 33% but sales of iPods fell 8%, perhaps as a result of people switching to the iPhone.
CEO Steve Jobs also confirmed that the firm will release a new product this week, widely believed to be a tablet PC. The new products we are planning to release this year are very strong, starting this week with a major new product that we’re really excited about, he said in a statement.
Apple’s figures have benefited from a change in the way the company records revenue. Revenue is now recorded at the point of sale, rather than over the life of a product. This means that all revenue from iPhones and Apple TV is recorded when they are sold.
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