Apple reported another stellar quarter that beat Wall Street’s expectations last night on the back of a surge in sales in China.

Net profit for Apple's fiscal Q2 (ending 31 March) almost doubled from a year ago to US$11.6 billion (US$12.30 a share), while revenue climbed 59 percent to US$39.2 billion.

The company sold 35.1 million iPhones (up 88 percent from a year ago), 11.8 million iPads (up 151 percent), 4 million Macs (up 7 percent) and 7.7 million iPods (down 15 percent). The iPhone accounted for US$22.7 billion in revenue, over half of the sales total. However, the sales figures were below the record numbers seen in the previous quarter, which included the key Christmas shopping period.

Sales in Asia Pacific rose 114 percent year-on-year to reach US$10.2 billion, establishing it as Apple’s second-largest market after the Americas. International sales accounted for 64 percent of the quarter’s revenue.

Peter Oppenheimer, Apple’s CFO, noted on the earnings call that a record US$7.9 billion in revenue came via China, a three-fold increase, which he attributed to “pent-up demand for [the] iPhone 4S” which was launched in the country at the beginning of the year. “That compares to a full year [China revenue] last year of US$13.3 billion. So it is mind-boggling that we can do this well.”

Apple also managed to increase its margins, alleviating fears expressed by some analysts that the lower price points introduced for some models of the iPhone and iPad could impact results. The firm’s gross margin increased to 47.4 percent compared to 41.4 percent in the year-ago quarter.

Apple guided for slightly lower earnings for its current quarter (fiscal Q3), forecasting for revenue of about US$34 billion and US$8.68 per share profit.