Apple reported record revenue and earnings in the company's financial results for the first quarter of its fiscal year 2015, which covers the three months ending Dec. 27, 2014.
Apple posted revenue for the quarter of $74.6 billion and a net profit for the quarter of $18 billion, equivalent to $3.06 per diluted share. All figures are record-highs for the company, which posted revenue of $57.6 billion and a net profit of $13.1 billion, equivalent to $2.07 per diluted share, in the corresponding period last year. Net profit increased by over 37 percent, while revenue increased by almost 30 percent.
Apple's net profit of $18 billion is the highest-ever profit recorded by a corporation for a quarter, breaking the previous record of $16.2 billion held by Gazprom that the company posted in the first quarter of 2011.
"We'd like to thank our customers for an incredible quarter, which saw demand for Apple products soar to an all-time high," said Apple CEO Tim Cook in a statement. "Our revenue grew 30 percent over last year to $74.6 billion, and the execution by our teams to achieve these results was simply phenomenal."
Apple's phenomenal results were driven by record-high revenues from sales of the company's iPhones and Mac computers, along with record performance figures of its App Store. Sales for Mac computers grew by around 15 percent to a record 5.5 million units.
The iPhone was Apple's star for the quarter though, as sales for the smartphone reached an all-time high of 74.5 million units. Cook added that the company sold about 30,000 iPhone units per hour.
"Interest in Apple products is at an all-time high ... shattering our high expectations," said Cook in a conference call with analysts. "This volume is hard to comprehend."
Apple's iPhone already claimed the title of being the best-selling gadget in history. In the previous quarter, the smartphone even outsold gadgets of entire industries, as the entire TV industry only sold less than 60 million units and the tablet computer industry sold only 54 million units.
Apple's previous record-high for units of iPhones sold in a quarter was 51 million, which the company posted last year. However, since then, Apple has signed a deal with China Mobile, which is the biggest mobile provider in China.
In the previous quarter, sales of Apple in China increased by 70 percent compared to the corresponding quarter last year. In fact, for the first time, the company was able to sell more iPhones in China for a quarter compared to the United States.
Apple was also able to roll out the iPhone 6 faster into other countries compared to previous models, which boosted the smartphone's sales.
