91Èȱ¬

Profit figures from Apple soared past Wall Street forecasts, boosted by sales of Mac computers.

The company reported net income for the three months to 26 June of $3.25bn (£2.1bn), or $3.51 a share, up from $1.83bn for the quarter last year.

Analysts were expecting earnings of about $3.11 a share.

The news sent Apple shares up 3.4% in after-hours trading, and go some way to relieve investors' concerns about the quality of the iPhone 4.

Apple's revenues rose to $15.7bn, well ahead of analysts' forecasts of about $14.75bn.

"It was a phenomenal quarter that exceeded our expectations all around, including the most successful product launch in Apple's history with iPhone 4," said Steve Jobs, Apple's chief executive.

"iPad is off to a terrific start, more people are buying Macs than ever before, and we have amazing new products still to come this year," he said.

Apple sold 3.47 million Macs during the quarter, a new quarterly record and a 33% increase over the year-ago quarter.

iPhones sales were 8.4 million, a 61% growth over the year-ago quarter. Apple sold 9.41 million, an 8% decline from the same period a year-ago.

The company began selling iPads during the quarter, with total sales of 3.27 million.

Apple has recently suffered weeks of bad publicity over antenna problems with the newly-launched iPhone 4.

But Yair Reiner, an analyst at Oppenheimer & Co, said the figures point to a different story.

"These are astounding numbers and even more astounding guidance," he said.

"This is one of the few times in recent memory that Apple's guidance has been ahead of the street at a time when investors were getting concerned the iPhone 4 antenna issues could hamper sales.

"Apple's sending a strong signal it sees things differently," Mr Reiner said.