Apple set to announce likely its best quarter ever on January 24

Officials at Apple already projected during their last quarterly earnings conference call in October that they were "confident" they would set new company records for both the iPhone and iPad in the just-concluded September quarter. The existing records are 20.3 million iPhones and 11.2 million iPads.

The December quarter represents not only the holiday buying season, but also the launch quarter for the iPhone 4S. During the quarter, Apple initiated its fastest iPhone roll-out yet, debuting the handset in the U.S., U.K., Japan, Hong Kong, India, and even Russia, Brazil and Taiwan late in the quarter.

Current expectations on Wall Street call for Apple to report profits of $9.83 billion on revenue of $38.16 billion. A total of 46 analysts polled skew as high as $10.74 billion and as low as $8.88 billion in their predicted revenue.

Recent rumors have suggested Apple's earnings report won't be the company's only public newsworthy event later this month. Apple is also said to be gearing up for a press conference in New York City where a publishing-related announcement pertaining to education is expected to occur.

As usual, AppleInsider will have live, extensive coverage of Apple's earnings report and conference call when they occur on Jan. 24.