Apple Inc exceeded expectations with its latest quarterly report on Tuesday, selling almost as many of its new iPad tablets as it sold Mac computers.

Apple also gave higher revenue guidance than Wall Street was expecting, something the company rarely does. Investors sent shares up in after-hours trading.

Apple said net income rose 78 percent to US$3.25 billion, or US$3.51 per share, from US$1.8 billion, or US$2.01 per share, a year ago.

Revenue for the April-June period rose 61 percent from last year to US$15.7 billion, making it the company's highest quarterly revenue ever, beating the last holiday season.

That's better than Wall Street predicted. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters had forecast net income of US$3.11 per share on US$14.7 billion in revenue.

Apple sold 8.4 million iPhones, up 61 percent from last year, even though the company stopped shipping more of the previous-generation iPhones after the updated model, the iPhone 4, was announced in early June. Apple sold 1.7 million of the newest iPhone 4 during the last three days of the quarter.

Apple also said it sold about 3.3 million iPads in the gadget's first three months on the market. Both the iPad and iPhone 4 have been out of stock in most stores worldwide.