Apple has reported its best non-holiday quarter on record after nearly doubling its profit on what it called 'staggering' sales of iPhones.
It surged to an all-time high on Wall Street this afternoon after the results.
Revenue for the three months to March 27 rocketed to $13.5 billion, nearly 50% up compared with a year earlier.
While Apple's new iPad tablet computers launched in early April were not a factor in the results, executives said sales in the opening weeks eclipsed their high expectations.
'It has shocked us, the level of demand at least initially,' Apple chief operating officer Tim Cook said. Apple said it sold more than 500,000 iPads in the weeks since its US launch, with demand forcing the company to postpone introducing it into other countries until production catches up.
The impact iPad has on Apple's bottom line should become clearer when the company reports its next quarterly figures.
Apple said its net profit in the most recent quarter rose to $3.07 billion from $1.62 billion a year ago.
Apple said it sold 2.94 million Macintosh computers during the quarter, up 33% from a year ago, 8.75 million iPhones, up 131% from a year ago, and 10.9 million iPods, down 1%.
'We're thrilled to report our best non-holiday quarter ever, with revenues up 49% and profits up 90%,' chief executive Steve Jobs said in a statement.
Apple sold 8.75 million iPhones in the quarter, a record high number that was more than double the figure from the same period in 2009, according to chief financial officer Peter Oppenheimer. 'We had some staggering growth rates,' Cook said. 'We are seeing incredible demand for iPhone.'
Sales of iPhones were up nearly fivefold in the Asia Pacific region and more than doubled in Europe, according to Apple. Apple revenue in the area comprising mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan during the past six months climbed to $1.3 billion, up nearly 200% from a year earlier.
Revenues rose at Apple stores worldwide, with sales of Macintosh computers climbing 38%. Half of those machines were reportedly bought by people new to Apple computers.
