国际英语新闻：Apple posts surge in profit, sales

SAN FRANCISO, April 20 (Xinhua) -- Apple Inc. on Tuesday reported that both of its profit and sales jumped in the most recent quarter, citing increasing demands for the company's smart phones and computers.

In Apple's fiscal 2010 second quarter ended on March 27, it earned 3.07 billion U.S. dollars, an increased of nearly 90 percent from 1.62 billion dollars in the same period a year earlier.

Earnings a share was 3.33 dollars, compared with 1.79 dollars in the year-ago period. Revenue in the quarter grew 49 percent year-on-year to 13.5 billion dollars.

The numbers of profit and sales both beat analysts' estimates. According to Thomson Reuters, analysts expected earnings a share of 2.45 dollars on revenue of about 12 billion dollars.

Apple said it sold 8.75 million iPhones in the most recent three months, representing a leap of 131 percent over the year-ago quarter. Sales of Macintosh computers also rose 33 percent to 2.94 million units, though iPod sales dropped one percent to 10.89 million units.

"We're thrilled to report our best non-holiday quarter ever, with revenues up 49 percent and profits up 90 percent," Steve Jobs, Apple's chief executive officer, said in a statement.

"We've launched our revolutionary new iPad and users are loving it, and we have several more extraordinary products in the pipeline for this year," he added.