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A 60 per cent year-on-year increase in sales of portable Macs saw Apple sell more than 1.3 million computers in the three months to 1 July, a peak last reached in 1999.

iPod sales were also up on last year, increasing by almost 32 per cent to 8.1 million, despite the absence of any new or revised models.

Overall Apple recorded a revenue of $4.37bn and a net quarterly profit of $472mn, or $0.54 per diluted share. These results compare to revenue of $3.52bn and a net profit of $320mn, or $0.37 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter. Gross margins rose to 30.3 per cent, up from 29.7 per cent.

'We're thrilled with the growth of our Mac business, and especially that over 75 per cent of the Macs sold during the quarter used Intel processors,' said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. 'This is the smoothest and most successful transition that any of us have ever experienced.

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Jobs added that iPods have maintained a US market share of over 75 per cent and that Apple is 'extremely excited about future iPod products in our pipeline'.

Wall Street is also expected to respond fairly positively to the results, which exceeded its expectations, although Apple's revenue guidance for the current quarter falls short of analysts' predictions.

Morningstar analyst Rod Bare said that he was expecting a better outlook for the back-to-school quarter, but urged calm.

'I wouldn't hit the panic button just yet,' Bare said. 'It seems like Apple is on track. If the Mac momentum starts to stall that would be a little concerning.'

One analyst expressed concerns about the company's future products.

'There is a lot of concern out there about what sort of plans you have,' said Bear Stearns' Andrew Neff. 'How innovative can innovative be?'

While declining to discuss products under development, Apple's chief financial officer Peter Oppenheimer tried to assuage Neff's fears.

'We are very confident,' Oppenheimer said. 'I don't imagine that the creativity at Apple can ever be lost.'