iPhone sales hit record Q3 high but Apple net profit drops

Apple suffered a $2bn year-on-year drop in net profit, as iPad and Mac sales slowed during the consumer electronics giant's third quarter.

The company posted a net profit of $6.9 billion and sales of $35.3 billion for Q3, after selling a record 31.2 million iPhones during the June quarter, sales of which were up 20 per cent on last year.

Despite this, profit was slightly down on 2012, when the firm reported a net profit of $8.8 billion against Q3 sales of $35 billion.

The company also sold 3.8 million Macs and 14.6 million iPads during the quarter. This was also down on last year when the firm shifted four million Macs and 17 million iPads during the April to June quarter.

Tim Cook, Apple CEO, said he was pleased with the firm's Q3 performance, citing the iPhone's sales figures as a particular highlight.

"We are especially proud of our record June quarter iPhone sales of over 31 million and the strong growth in revenue from iTunes, software and services," he said.

"We are really excited about the upcoming releases of iOS 7 and OS X Mavericks, and we are laser-focused and working hard on some amazing new products that we will introduce in the fall and across 2014."

The new products Cook flagged are widely tipped to be new versions of iPhone and iPad, which many industry watchers expect to launch around the same time iOS 7 will be released in September.

The new version of iOS was unveiled at the company's Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) back in June along with an updated desktop operating system called OS X Mavericks.

Apple used the conference to announce core new features for both, with iOS 7 marking the arrival of a refreshed interface for the firm's mobile operating system.

Multitasking takes a more prominent role in the next iteration of the iOS, while signature apps including Camera, Safari and Siri are all set to have a significant boost in functionality too.

Meanwhile, users of its desktop operating system will benefit from more than 200 new features, including an improved Finder experience, enhanced iCloud integration, and better support for people that use multiple displays.