Apple's second quarter earnings hit $39 billion (£24bn)

apple announces quarterly earnings
Apple announced quarterly financial results of $39.2 billion and a net profit of $11.6 billion

Huge sales of the new iPad and the continued success of the iPhone 4S have given Apple another record-breaking quarter.

Apple announced quarterly financial results for the fiscal second quarter of 2012 on Tuesday, with revenue of $39.2 billion (£24bn) and net profit of $11.6 billion (£7.1 billion).

The company's revenue eclipses Apple's own conservative estimates of $32.5 billion, not to mention Wall Street's more bullish $36.6 billion prediction.

The numbers marked Apple's best March quarter in its history.

iPhone: hold please?

Last week, Verizon Wireless announced quarterly iPhone activations of 3.2 million, and AT&T activated another 4.3 million handsets on its own network.

Those numbers are a far cry from the 37.04 million activated in Q1 FY12, but keep in mind those units moved during the pivotal holiday season.

While Apple didn't quite top last quarter's iPhone sales, it came much closer than anyone expected for a device that's now six months old: 35.1 million sold, an 88 percent unit growth over the same quarter last year.

New iPad in the mix

Apple doesn't break out its iPad sales, but the new iPad is clearly off to a great start, with 11.8 million tablets sold in the company's fiscal second quarter, a whopping 151 percent increase year-over-year, when it sold a then-record 4.69 million units.

The new Retina Display-enhanced model launched last month, which has since rolled out across the world far more rapidly than previous models.

"We're thrilled with sales of over 35 million iPhones and almost 12 million iPads in the March quarter," said Tim Cook, Apple's CEO.

"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."

"Our record March quarter results drove $14 billion in cash flow from operations," said Peter Oppenheimer, Apple's CFO.

"Looking ahead to the third fiscal quarter, we expect revenue of about $34 billion and diluted earnings per share of about $8.68."

Via MacWorld

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