Apple announced yet another strong quarter, with 48 million iPhones shifted in the three months, with Tim Cook, the company’s CEO, stating that this topped off “Apple’s most successful year ever”.

The company said growth in the quarter was fueled by record fiscal fourth quarter sales of iPhone, the expanded availability of Apple Watch, and all-time records for Mac sales and revenue from services.

On a group level, the company reported a profit of $11.1 billion, up 31.4 per cent year-on-year, on revenue of $51.5 billion, up 22.3 per cent.

iPhone revenue was up 36 per cent year-on-year to $32.21 billion, as unit shipments increased 22 per cent to 48.05 million.

Cook said the company “exited the quarter with demand for new iPhones exceeding supply, but we’ve made good progress with our manufacturing ramp in the initial weeks of October”.

iPhone average selling price was $670, an increase of $67 year-on-year, due to a “more favourable mix”, despite the negative impact of foreign exchange.

As has become something of the norm, the iPad business was pressured, with revenue down 20 per cent to $4.28 billion. Next month, the company will begin shipping its iPad Pro.

Sales of “other products” including Apple TV, Apple Watch, Beats products, iPod and Accessories, increased 61 per cent year-on-year to $3.05 billion.

On a geographic basis, China was the star, almost doubling year-on-year to $12.52 billion, although this still represented a slight slip (down 5 per cent) from the earlier sequential quarter.

Americas remains by far Apple’s biggest market, with revenue up 10 per cent to $21.77 billion.

Cook said that Apple is “heading into the holidays with our strongest product lineup yet, including iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus, Apple Watch with an expanded lineup of cases and bands, the new iPad Pro and the all-new Apple TV which begins shipping this week”.

It is expecting revenue for the period to be in the range of $75.5 billion to $77.5 billion range.

Full year numbers
The period also marked the end of Apple’s fiscal year. For the twelve months, the company reported a 35.1 per cent increase in profit to $53.4 billion, on revenue up 27.9 per cent to $233.72 billion.

Cook said that the company had made “huge inroads into emerging markets”, generating more than $79 billion in revenue and growing more than 63 per cent despite forex challenges.

During the year it shifted 231 million iPhones, 55 million iPads and 21 million Macs, “setting new records and increasing our global market share for both iPhone and Mac”, Cook said.