It said sales in the last three months of 2019 rose 8% to $91.8bn (£70.5bn) while net profits increased 11% to reach $22.2bn.

The increase was driven by demand for iPhones and accessories such as watches and AirPods. This marked a change from its recent performance, which had disappointed with weak iPhone sales.

Shona Ghosh, UK technology editor at Business Insider, told the BBC's Today programme that sales had been boosted by the launch of the iPhone 11.

"People are really sensitive to the price of the iPhone, and the base iPhone 11 was cheaper than its predecessor.

"Although that's very expensive in the grand scheme of things, it seemed like good value for an Apple product.

"For consumers who pay attention to the price of the iPhone and were thinking of upgrading, this was their best chance to get a really good quality phone with a dual camera and all the bells and whistles for quite a decent price by Apple's standards."