Apple posts strong $45.4 billion in revenue on growing sales of 41 million iPhones

Apple's quarterly earnings per diluted share for third fiscal quarter of 2017 were $1.67. iPhone sales for the period reached 41 million, up from 40.4 million the year prior.

That was in comparison to market expectations of $44.9 billion in revenue and 40.8 million iPhone sales for the three-month span, allowing Apple to beat market projections.

iPad sales were also strong in the quarter, reaching 11.4 million units. Apple launched three new iPad models this year, including two new iPad Pros in the June quarter.

The 11.4 million iPad sales were up from 10 million a year ago, and 8.9 million in the preceding March quarter.

As for the Mac, sales were 4.3 million, up slightly from the same period in 2016. Sales of the Mac were also up from 4.2 million in the March 2017 quarter.

Mac sales were also bolstered by new MacBook Pros, MacBook Airs and iMacs that debuted at Apple's annual Worldwide Developers Conference in June.

In all, earnings per share grew 17 percent year over year, from $1.42 in the year-ago quarter. International sales accounted for 61 percent of the quarters' revenue, and gross margin was 38.5 percent.

"With revenue up 7 percent year-over-year, we're happy to report our third consecutive quarter of accelerating growth and an all-time quarterly record for Services revenue," Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook said. "We hosted an incredibly successful Worldwide Developers Conference in June, and we're very excited about the advances in iOS, macOS, watchOS and tvOS coming this fall."

While investors are likely to be pleased with the strong performance by Apple in the June quarter, all eyes are now focused squarely on the current September frame, during which the company is expected to unveil its next-generation iPhones. However, if they do launch in the quarter, it likely won't be until the very end, having a relatively small impact on the period.

For its fiscal 2017 fourth quarter, Apple provided the following guidance:

• revenue between $49 billion and $52 billion
• gross margin between 37.5 percent and 38 percent
• operating expenses between $6.7 billion and $6.8 billion
• other income/(expense) of $500 million
• tax rate of 25.5 percent

"We reported unit and revenue growth in all our product categories in the June quarter, driving 17 percent growth in earnings per share," Apple Chief Financial Officer Luca Maestr said. "We also returned $11.7 billion to investors during the quarter, bringing cumulative capital returns under our program to almost $223 billion."

Apple's board of directors also declared a cash dividend of $0.63 per share of the company's common stock. The dividend is payable on Aug. 17 to shareholders of record as of the close of business on Aug. 14.