iPhone sales of $69.1 billion were, however, down slightly and below forecasts of about $71 billion. Revenue for the China region, where Apple has come under increasing competitive pressure from local smartphone makers such as Huawei and Xiaomi, dropped about 11 per cent to $18.5 billion.

While results were better than expected, Intel’s outlook for the first quarter fell short of analyst forecasts. Management guided revenue to a range between $11.7 billion and $12.7 billion, below the consensus estimate of $12.