Apple (AAPL, Financials) posted record revenue and earnings for its fiscal first quarter, reporting $124.3 billion in sales, a 4% increase from a year earlier.
Strong demand for services and a rising installed base of devices drove quarterly earnings per share to rise 10% to $2.40, as reported on Thursday.
Apple's Christmas product range and its increasing artificial intelligence projects helped CEO Tim Cook explain the development. Cook added that Apple Intelligence—a collection of AI-powered capabilities—would improve user experience throughout its ecosystem when the firm is ready to provide them in additional languages in April.
Apple's active installed base hit an all-time high across all product categories and geographies, according to CFO Kevan Parekh, who also highlighted the firm returned more than $30 billion to shareholders during the quarter.
Declared a quarterly dividend of $0.25 per share, Apple's board said it will be paid Feb. 13 to record-based shareholders as of Feb. 10.
Apple shares rose 3.25% to $245.31 as of 9:32 a.m. ET on Friday, following the company's record first-quarter earnings report.
