Apple has turned in record-breaking profits for the last three months of 2011 of $13.06 billion (around £8.38bn) - up 118 per cent up on the $6bn income it brought in a year ago.

Revenue for the 14 weeks to December 31 also hit a record $46.33bn, up from $26.74bn in the last quarter of 2010.

Some 37.04m iPhones were sold during the period (a unit increase of 128 per cent), along with 15.43m iPads (units up 111 per cent), 15.4m iPods (unit sales up 21 per cent) and 5.2m Macs (up 26 per cent).

Apple also saw gross margins improve from 38.5 per cent a year earlier to 44.7 per cent. Sales outside the USA, said the company, accounted for 58 per cent of revenue for the quarter.

“We’re thrilled with our outstanding results and record-breaking sales of iPhones, iPads and Macs,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s chief executive.

“Apple’s momentum,” he said, “is incredibly strong, and we have some amazing new products in the pipeline.”

Added chief finance officer Peter Oppenheimer: “We are very happy to have generated over $17.5 billion in cash flow from operations during the December quarter.

“Looking ahead to the second fiscal quarter of 2012, which will span 13 weeks, we expect revenue of about $32.5 billion and we expect diluted earnings per share of about $8.50.”