Apple earnings soar on iPhone sales

Apple said Wednesday it had another blow-out quarter, nearly doubling its net income and far exceeding analyst estimates.

Net income in the fiscal second quarter, which ended in March, was $5.99 billion US, or $6.40 per share, up 95 per cent from $3.07 billion, or $3.33 per share, a year ago.

Analysts polled by FactSet were expecting earnings of $5.37 per share.

Revenue was $24.7 billion, up 83 per cent from $13.5 billion a year ago. Analysts were expecting $23.4 billion.

The results were lifted by the sale of 18.65 million iPhones, millions more than analysts had expected.

One dark spot was iPad sales, which came in at 4.69 million units. That was less than many analysts had expected, and could have been caused by tight supplies of the new iPad 2 model.