Apple's quarterly results blew past Wall Street's expectations after U.S. consumers purchased unprecedented numbers of iPhones and iPads. Apple posted record quarterly revenue of $46.33 billion and record quarterly net profit of $13.06 billion, or $13.87 per diluted share. These results compare to revenue of $26.74 billion and net quarterly profit of $6 billion, or $6.43 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter. Gross margin was 44.7 percent compared to 38.5 percent in the year-ago quarter. International sales accounted for 58 percent of the quarter's revenue.

Apple sold 37.04 million iPhones in the quarter, representing 128 percent unit growth over the year-ago quarter. The company also sold 15.43 million iPads during the quarter, a 111 percent unit increase over the year-ago quarter. Sales of Macs reached 5.2 million Macs, a 26 percent unit increase over the year-ago quarter. Finally, Apple sold 15.4 million iPods, a 21 percent unit decline from the year-ago quarter.

"We're thrilled with our outstanding results and record-breaking sales of iPhones, iPads and Macs," said Tim Cook, Apple's CEO. "Apple?s momentum is incredibly strong, and we have some amazing new products in the pipeline."

"We are very happy to have generated over $17.5 billion in cash flow from operations during the December quarter," said Peter Oppenheimer, Apple's CFO. "Looking ahead to the second fiscal quarter of 2012, which will span 13 weeks, we expect revenue of about $32.5 billion and we expect diluted earnings per share of about $8.50."

Despite the great quarter, Apple might face a rougher ride than usual in 2012, as Google 's Android has been adopted heavily by Samsung Motorola and others, and a host of tablets from Amazon.com Inc, among others, offers buyers viable alternatives.

On the other hand, an iPhone 5 for the end of the year with a new form factor and with LTE could drive another set of gains in 2012.