Sales at the iPhone giant rose 11% to a record $123.9bn
(£92.6bn) in the October to December period, beating forecasts.
Shares jumped more than 4% in after-hours trade, as the
report suggested the firm's pandemic boom is continuing.
Apple has seen purchases skyrocket during the pandemic as
people spend more time online.
The firm's market value briefly hit the $3tn milestone in
early January though its share price has slipped more recently amid weeks of
market turmoil.
Sales boom
Executives had warned last year that the global shortage of
microchips might limit its sales, but the firm's quarterly update to investors
on Thursday showed it brushing past those concerns.
Mac sales were up 12%, while iPhone sales jumped 9%.
With few rival phones debuting in the holiday shopping
season, the iPhone 13, which started shipping days before the quarter began,
led to worldwide phone sales revenue for Apple of $71.6bn.
Revenue from the company's services unit - which includes
Apple Pay, the App store and its TV streaming service - was up more than 23%.
The iPad, which executives said was particularly affected by
the supply issues, was the one product that showed weakness, with sales
slipping 14%.
Demand in China, where sales rose 20%, propelled the firm's
growth in the quarter.
Apple said profits were $34.6bn, up 20%.
The company, which has more than 1.8 billion active devices
in the market, has been able to put pressure on suppliers and manufacturers to
produce big quantities of iPhones and other devices despite shortages brought
on by the pandemic and most recently the Omicron variant.
"They've navigated the supply chain better than
everybody, and it's showing in the results," said Ryan Reith, who studies
the smartphone market for industry tracker IDC.
Chief Financial Officer Luca Maestri said that supply
constraints would decrease in the current quarter, which ends in March.
"The level of constraint will depend a lot on other
companies, what will be the demand for chips from other companies and other
industries. It's difficult for us to predict, so we try to focus on the short
term," he said.
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