Apple has announced quarterly profits of $6.62 billion for the fourth quarter of 2011, up 54 per cent on last year but short of analysts' expectations.
The electronics company posted quarterly revenues of $28.27 billion, having sold 17 million iPhones (up 21 per cent over Q4 2010), 11 million iPads (up 166 per cent) and 4.9 million Mac computers (up 26 per cent).
However Apple posted record lows on iPod sales, down to 6.67 million or a drop of 27 per cent on the year ago quarter.
Analysts had hoped for stronger results from the company, with many expecting total revenues closer to $30 billion.
It had also been hoped that iPhone sales would be closer to 20 million, but part of the shortfall may be due to the delayed release of the iPhone 4S, which took 18 months to appear rather than the usual 12 months.
"We are thrilled with the very strong finish of an outstanding fiscal 2011, growing annual revenue to $108 billion and growing earnings to $26 billion," said Tim Cook, Apple's CEO. "Customer response to iPhone 4S has been fantastic, we have strong momentum going into the holiday season, and we remain really enthusiastic about our product pipeline."
Speaking later during the earnings call, Cook paid tribute to the company's co-founder Steve Jobs, who died earlier this month.
"This is our first earnings call since the passing of Steve Jobs," Cook said. "His spirit will forever be the foundation of Apple and we look forward to creating the amazing work that he loved so much."
Shares in Apple fell by 5 per cent immediately following the earnings call.