Apple reported robust results for the quarter to 29 June, a period which saw no significant product launches from the iPhone maker.

In a statement, Tim Cook, the company’s CEO, said: “We are laser-focused and working hard on some amazing new products that we will introduce in the fall and across 2014.”

The company sold 31.2 million iPhones, a record for the June quarter, compared with 26 million in the same period last year. It said that there was a sequential decrease of around 600,000 in the channel, meaning sales to customers were slightly higher at 31.8 million.

Cook played down concerns that the market for high-end smartphones has reached its peak, limiting the potential for future iPhone growth. “I don’t believe that, but we’ll see,” he said.

However, the company has seen its iPhone average selling prices slide, as sales of the aging iPhone 4 made up a growing proportion of the total. This has been driven by sales of the older device in emerging markets or as a prepaid smartphone, broadening the potential market for the product line.

The CEO also hit back at recent debate about its performance in Russia, where the top-tier operators have stopped sales of the iPhone. He said that “over 80 per cent of smartphones are sold in retail”, and that it has seen record iPhone activations in this market, despite the lack of presence in operator stores.

Apple sold 14.6 million iPads during the quarter, compared with 17 million in the year-ago quarter. Apple noted that last year, it built 1.2 million units of iPad channel inventory in line with the launch of the third-generation iPad, whereas this year it reduced channel inventory by 700,000 units, creating a channel inventory swing of 1.9 million units.

In the company’s conference call, Cook also said that the company’s performance in China was weaker in the quarter, but that focusing on revenue “doesn’t really tell the complete story”. Sell-through in this market was down 4 per cent taking into account channel inventory rebalancing, with growth in mainland China offset by weakness in Hong Kong.

On a group level, it reported a profit of $6.9 billion, down from $8.82 billion year-on-year, on revenue of $35.32 billion, up slightly from $35.02 billion.

Apple’s numbers are impacted by new product launches to a greater degree than its rivals, due to its focus on a limited product portfolio. This makes comparisons difficult, because of the one-off impact an introduction within a specific quarter can have – and the flatness which comes during a quiet period.