Apple has announced third quarter financial results for its fiscal year 2021, with revenue up 36% and profit up 93% from the same quarter in 2020.

The $21.7bn profit posting was the largest for the spring quarter in the company’s 45-year history.

Revenue growth was similar across both hardware such as iPhones, and services like Apple Music and Apple TV where margins are much higher.

Sales of iPhones surged by 50% compared to the same quarter last year, which analysts attributed to strong demand for 5G-compatible phones as coverage becomes more extensive.

The usual sales drop from the second quarter, when Apple releases new hardware products, was also less pronounced than in years past, despite supply bottlenecks arising from the global chip shortage.

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The strongest year-on-year regional growth came in China, where economic conditions remained more stable relative to the rest of the world. From September 2020 to June 2021, cash on hand dipped slightly to a still hefty $34bn. The drop was compensated by an increase in holdings of marketable securities.

Apple set aside approximately $2.6bn in provision for income taxes out of pre-tax profit of $24.4bn for the quarter, implying an average tax rate of 10.7%.

Apple’s strong quarterly earnings came on the heels of buoyant earnings reports from Alphabet (Google) and Microsoft, indicating the pandemic-related boost to growth in the sector is continuing unabated.

Apple’s CFO Luca Maestri (pictured) said: “Our record June quarter operating performance included new revenue records in each of our geographic segments, double-digit growth in each of our product categories, and a new all-time high for our installed base of active devices.”

On the back of earnings per share of $1.31, the company declared a cash dividend of $0.22 per share.