NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Much stronger-than-expected iPhone sales helped Apple nearly double its profit last quarter.
The world's most valuable company said it sold 35.1 million iPhones during the first three months of 2012, soundly beating analysts' expectations. That was a relief to investors, following weaker-than-expected iPhone activations from Verizon (VZ, Fortune 500) and AT&T (T, Fortune 500) during the quarter.
The iPhone 4S got a big boost from overseas sales in the past quarter, particularly after the device launched on China Unicom (CHU) in January and China Telecom (CHA) in March.
Apple (AAPL, Fortune 500) also announced that it sold 11.8 million iPads. Boosting sales was the launch of the third generation of the tablet, which went on sale in mid-March, as well as Apple's decision to continue selling the very similar iPad 2 at a $100 discount.
Mac sales grew to 4 million, and iPod sales slipped to 7.7 million.
"The new iPad is off to a great start, and across the year you're going to see a lot more of the kind of innovation that only Apple can deliver," said Tim Cook, Apple's CEO, in a prepared statement.
Overall, sales for the Cupertino, Calif.-based company rose 59% to $39.2 billion, topping the median forecast of $36.8 billion of analysts polled by Thomson Reuters.
Apple's net income rose to $11.6 billion, or $12.30 per share, up 95% from a year earlier. Analysts forecasted earnings of $10.04 per share.
For the current quarter, Apple said it expects earnings of $8.68 per share on sales of $34 billion. That is well below Wall Street's expectations, but investors typically take Apple's historically conservative guidance with a grain of salt.
Shares of Apple rose more than 7% after hours, halting a two-week long slump that has dragged the stock down nearly 13% from its all-time peak. Apple briefly reached a market valuation of $600 billion before the slide, becoming just the second company to hit that level. The other, Microsoft (MSFT, Fortune 500), achieved it in late 1999.
At the end of the quarter, Apple's cash hoard grew to an astounding $110.2 billion. The company said it would begin giving shareholders a quarterly dividend of $2.65 per share sometime its fiscal fourth quarter, which begins in July. Apple will also buy back $10 billion of its own shares over three years, beginning in October.
The third national iPhone carrier, Sprint (S, Fortune 500), is set to report its financial results on Wednesday morning. Amazon (AMZN, Fortune 500), Apple's chief tablet competitor, is scheduled to report earnings Thursday evening.
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