Apple basks in limelight as iPhone sales increase 16%

Apple forecast a strong holiday quarter after a better-than-expected 16% jump in iPhone sales, and the strongest growth in Mac computer shipments in years helped the company surpass Wall Street’s targets.

The company on Monday projected stronger-than-expected revenue of $63.5bn to $66.5bn in the December quarter, when new iPads and iPhones vie with rival devices from Microsoft and Amazon.com for holiday outlays.

However, sales of the iPad, which helped launch the mainstream tablet market in 2010, slid for the third straight quarter. A gradual decline in tablet demand worldwide has worried investors already concerned with Apple’s slowing growth, who are awaiting a new device that can energise its expansion. Sales of Apple’s tablet slid more than 7% from the previous quarter to 12.3m units, and were down 13% from the previous year.