Apple posts 15 per cent profit growth

Apple has posted strong results, with profit climbing 15 per cent on year to $1.21 billion over the last quarter - despite facing reduced consumer spending because of the recession.

Sales grew 8.7 per cent to $8.16 billion. Mac computer sales slipped three per cent to 2.22 million in the second quarter, while iPods gained three per cent to over 11 million sold. Apple's iPhone doubled in sales to 3.79 million from a year ago - but that was against the first generation of the handset.

"We are extremely pleased to report the best non-holiday quarter revenue and earnings in our history," said Peter Oppenheimer, Apple's chief financial officer, in a statement, adding that the firm's "financial condition remains very robust."

The results cheered investors, too. "As the world economy began to spiral the big question on investors' minds was if the Apple brand was going to be resilient or particularly susceptible," Oppenheimer analyst Yair Reiner told Reuters. "I think that what these results show is that Apple and this brand are relatively resilient."