Apple makes record profit as iPhone and iPad sales leap

iPhone sales more than doubled - again

Apple's latest profits soared past expectations as sales of its best-known iPhone and iPad products more than doubled.

Net income was $7.31bn (£4.6bn) in the three months to 25 June, 125% higher than a year earlier and a record quarterly profit for the firm. Revenue was $28.6bn, also a quarterly record.

Apple sold more than 20 million iPhones in the quarter and 9.25 million iPads.

However, iPod sales continued to slip, down by 20% to 7.54 million units.

The results assuaged concerns about the supply of the iPad 2, partly because of parts supply interruptions caused by Japan's tsunami and earthquake in March.

Lion

Apple chief financial officer, Peter Oppenheimer, said: "We are extremely pleased with our performance.

"Looking ahead to the fourth fiscal quarter of 2011, we expect revenue of about $25bn."

Mr Oppenheimer also said that Lion, the new version of the Mac OS X operating system, will go on sale Wednesday.

The Lion software mimics some of the features of the iPhone and iPad interface.

The company has a reputation for being conservative with its forecasts.

Shares jumped 5.3% in extended after-hours trading to their highest for a year.

Battles

The price had suffered after its founder and Chief Executive, Steve Jobs, took a long-term break last January for medical reasons.

The future stewardship of the company remains an open question. On Tuesday the Wall Street Journal was reporting that several Apple board members had discussed a successor to Mr Jobs, and had talked about the matter with at least one head of a high-profile tech company.

Another uncertainty for the company is a web of patent battles with rivals.

It claims Taiwanese rival HTC has infringed its patents, with HTC claiming a number of infringements against Apple.

Apple is also in dispute over the rights to technology with South Korea's Samsung and US competitor Motorola.