Blockbuster iPhone sales helped Apple Inc surpass Wall Street's expectations with a 90 percent leap in net income for the most recent quarter. Shares of the company skyrocketed to an all-time high in extended trading on Tuesday.

Apple said it sold a record 8.8 million of its popular iPhone smartphones in the three months that ended March 27, more than double the number sold a year ago.

Revenue from the phones made up 40 percent of Apple's total revenue. The previous high was 8.7 million phones sold in the October-December quarter last year.

Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster was astounded by the iPhone results. He said such ongoing growth is unheard of for a successful three-year-old device.

"It's defying the law of gravity," Munster said. "Internationally, it's catching fire."

Peter Oppenheimer, Apple's chief financial officer, said that strong sales came from both existing and new mobile carriers. Although AT&T Inc remains the exclusive United States carrier, Apple has been selling phones through multiple carriers in other countries.

Investors sent Apple's stock bounding up US$13.71, or 5.6 percent, to US$258.30 in after-hours trading on Tuesday, surpassing its record US$251.14 set last Friday.