Beating analysts' expectations,
Apple released its quarterly sales and earnings results on Tuesday. The company made a profit of $11.6 billion in the first three months of the year driven by record sales of iPhones and
iPad tablet computers .
Revenue for the quarter ended March 31 was $39.2 billion as sales of iPad sales more than doubled from the same quarter the previous year and iPhone sales surged 88 per cent, according to Apple.
In its fiscal 2012 second quarter ending March 31, the company raked $39.2 billion in revenue, an increase of nearly 59 per cent from $24.7 billion in the same period a year earlier.
Net profit was $11.6 billion or $12.3 per share, nearly doubled when compared with numbers in the year-ago quarter of $6 billion or $6.4 per share, Xinhua reported.
Analysts had expected Apple to report earnings of $10.04 per share on revenue of $36.81 billion, according to a consensus estimate by Thomson Reuters.
The company benefited from consumers' strong demands for its iPhone and iPad products.
Apple sold 35.1 million iPhones and 11.8 million iPads during the quarter, representing unit growth of 88 percent and 151 per cent year on year, respectively.
"We're thrilled with sales of over 35 million iPhones and almost 12 million iPads in the March quarter," Tim Cook, Apple's chief executive officer, said in a statement on Tuesday.
"The new iPad is off to a great start, and across the year you' re going to see a lot more of the kind of innovation that only Apple can deliver," he added.
Apple's results are being closely watched by the market as there were concerns on whether the company could keep the momentum to deliver better-than-expected numbers to satisfy investors.
Apple's shares on Tuesday rose more than 6 per cent in after-hours trading following the earnings announcement.
With IANS inputs
Special 
