Apple posts another record quarter on soaring iPhone, iPad and Mac sales

Apple has posted its strongest second quarter ever, reporting $28.6bn in revenues and $7.31bn in profits. The figures represent a whopping 82 per cent revenue increase from the same period last year.

The company cited strong iPhone, iPad and Macintosh sales over the quarter, including 20.3 million iPhones, a year-over-year rise of 142 per cent, and 9.25 million iPads, a rise of 183 per cent.

Gartner analyst Carolina Milanesi told V3.co.uk after the earnings call that the iPad sales figures in particular will be worring news for Apple's rivals.

"This should really wake up competitors to the harsh reality that the iPad is in a different league," she said.

The report comes just one day before Apple is due to release the Mac OS X Lion operating system. The update is the first to be offered through the Mac App Store, and will help to usher in additional services such as Apple's iCloud platform.

OS X Lion will provide further momentum to the Macintosh unit which has shown sustained growth in recent quarters. Apple sold 3.95 million Macs in its second quarter, half going to first-time Apple buyers.

Speaking to analysts, chief operating officer Tim Cook shrugged off the suggestion that the success of the iPad will lead to diminished sales for the Macintosh line.

"We believe that some customers chose to purchase an iPad instead of a new Mac over the quarter, but we believe that even more people chose an iPad over a Windows PC," he said.

"There is a lot more of the Windows PC market to cannibalise than the Mac."