APPLE Inc. quarterly results smashed Wall Street expectations with record sales of big-screen iPhones in the holiday shopping season and a 70 percent rise in China sales, powering the company to the largest profit in corporate history.

    The company sold 74.5 million iPhones in its fiscal first quarter ended Dec. 27, while many analysts had expected fewer than 70 million. Revenue rose to US$74.6 billion from US$57.6 billion a year earlier.

    Profit of US$18 billion was the biggest ever reported by a public company, worldwide, according to S&P analyst Howard Silverblatt. Apple’s cash pile is now US$178 billion, enough to buy IBM or the equivalent to US$556 for every American.

    Apple CEO Tim Cook said the California-based company would release its next product, the Apple Watch, in April.

    Daniel Morgan, senior portfolio manager at Apple-shareholder Synovus Trust Co. in Atlanta, Georgia, said that the report was a good sign in a quarter where big tech companies such as IBM and Microsoft Corp. have disappointed.

    Apple CFO Luca Maestri told Reuters in an interview that the company did not sell more iPhones in China than the United States, despite some earlier predictions by research analysts.

    But the big-screen iPhone 6 and 6 plus drove revenues in China up 70 percent in the quarter from a year earlier. The company’s success in the competitive Chinese market can be attributed to its partnership with China Mobile, the largest global mobile carrier, and the appeal of the larger screen size of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus.

    (SD-Agencies)