Apple posts biggest quarterly profits of any public company - ever

Apple smashes expectations thanks to record iPhone sales - but iPad sales continue to fall

Apple has posted a record-breaking set of quarterly results following a surge in sales of both new iPhone 6 and 6 Plus devices, as well as sales to consumers in China, the world's biggest market.

The Cupertino, California-based company said that sales rose 29.5 per cent in the final quarter of 2014, to $74.6bn (£48bn), ahead of Wall Street analysts' expectations of $67.7bn.

It smashed the previous record of the highest net profit made in a quarter by a public company, which was held by oil giant ExxonMobil for the $15.9bn it made in the second quarter of 2012, according to financial firm Standard and Poor's. Apple reported a net profit of $18bn, up from $13.1bn year-on-year.

The company's stock increased by about seven per cent after the US markets had closed.

Profits were boosted by record sales of iPhones - Apple sold 74.5 million of its flagship device in three months and the firm's CEO, Tim Cook, admitted that the continued demand for the iPhone was "staggering". Analysts expected that the firm would sell 65 million in the same period.

Apple also enjoyed record sales of the Apple Mac and from its App Store. However, sales of the iPad fell by 18 per cent in 2014 from a year earlier, selling 21.4 million units.

Cook said it had been an "incredible quarter which saw demand for Apple products soar to an all-time high". He continued: "Our revenue grew 30 per cent over last year to $74.bn, and the execution by our teams to achieve these results was simply phenomenal."