iPhone sales double as Apple profits climb 50%
Handheld sells 8.7m units, profits hit $3.38 billion
Apple has recorded a 50 per cent growth in profits for the first quarter ended December 26, from $2.26 billion (£1.39bn) to $3.38 billion (£2.08bn).
The growth is partly from sales of the iPhone, which doubled from 4.3 million sales last year, to 8.7 million units. Revenue for Q1 was $15.68 billion (£9.66bn), up from $11.88 billion ($7.32bn) the previous year.
iPod sales were down from 22.7 million to 21 million, but combined iPod and iPhone sales were still up 10 per cent. Sales of Mac laptops were up 33 per cent from 2.5 million to 3.36 million units.
The company is expected to announce new hardware on Wednesday, rumoured to a tablet computer. Apple has used January launches in the past to reveal the iPhone and the MacBook Air hardware.
"The new products we are planning to release this year are very strong, starting this week with a major new product that we’re really excited about," said Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple.