Apple hits new high as revenues rise even before new iPhone launch

Apple shares reached a record high overnight after the tech colossus announced it had sold 41m iPhones in the last three months, and also stated that the iPhone 8 would not be delayed as previously reported.

This was enough to send the tech giants shares up 6% to $159.10 each.

While many loyal customers still wait for the new iPhone to be released in September, Apple still saw a 2% increase of the devices sold throughout the quarter, on the back of strong demand in both the Middle Eastern and Latin American markets.

Maxim analyst, Nehal Chokshi, predicted that Apple was likely to report a "lame duck" quarter when speaking to CNBC ahead of the announcement on Monday, stating "it doesn't really matter what they say or do. And this is because everybody knows that the June quarter results, you know — we're at the end of the product cycle. And everybody gives them a pass for whatever results they're going to provide."

However, Apple bucked its traditionally soft third quarter sales based on a surprise surge in iPad, Apple Watch, Apple TV and Beats products, leading to a 23% increase on the same time last year.

Revenue for the quarter came in at $45.4b, above the consensus of $44.89b.

Earnings per share also bettered the analyst predictions by $0.10c, coming in at $1.67 for a net quarterly profit of $8.7b.

Chief executive officer, Tim Cook focused on the achievements of Apple's services division, which covers both the App Store and Apple Music. Throughout the quarter the unit had sales of over $7bn, a 22% rise on the third quarter of 2016, with Apple Pay now making up just shy of 90% of all mobile payments around the world.

Cook said “Today we are proud to announce very strong results,” said Cook in a call with analysts. He said iPhone results were “impressive” and that higher-end models had done particularly well. A decade after the iPhone was launched, Apple has sold 1.2bn iPhones."

The only real concern was its performance in the Chinese market, where revenues dropped 10%.

As of BST 0830 shares were $150.05 apiece.