Apple posts record quarterly revenues driven by iPhone and iPad mini

Apple posted record revenue and pre-tax profits in its fiscal 2013 first-quarter results, covering the three months to 29 December.

However, the company's shares continued declining in value in after-hours trading - falling by a further ten per cent - as sales failed to meet expectations, amid concerns over rising production costs and squeezed profit margins.

Quarterly sales rose to $54.5bn (£34.5bn), up 18 per cent from $46.3bn (£29.3bn) achieved in the same quarter a year earlier.

Net profits, though, increased only fractionally to $13.1bn (£8.29bn) due to higher production costs, not to mention lower margins on the iPad mini, which sold well in the run-up to Christmas.

Indeed, CEO Tim Cook said that the company could not build enough iPad minis to meet demand; likewise the iPhone 4s - although he did not comment on sales of the new iPhone 5, which reports suggest have been lacklustre.

The company sold 47.8 million iPhones, 22.9 million iPads and four million Mac PCs. While both iPhone and iPad lines increased in sales by 29 per cent and 48 per cent respectively, unit sales of Macs declined by 21.9% - far in excess of the decline in the broader PC market, partly due to production problems with the latest iMac model, launched in October 2012.

Other metrics highlighted in the report presentation include $2.1bn (£1.33bn) in iTunes sales, two billion downloads in December alone from the iOS app store, exceeding more than 250 million iCloud accounts and $6.4bn (£4.05bn) in sales generated via the company's bricks and mortar Apple stores.

The company ended the quarter with $138.1bn (£87.4bn) of cash in hand, up by $16bn (£10.13bn) compared to the prior quarter.