iPhone sales almost double year on year to 14 mil.

Californian firm Apple sold 14.1 million iPhones in the third quarter, up 91 per cent year-on-year and 67.86 per cent quarter-on-quarter. The figure puts the total number of iPhones sold since launch at 73.72 million. The company sold 4.19 million iPads during the same period.

The iPhone sales underpinned a typically strong quarter for Apple. “We are blown away to report over $20bn in revenue and over $4bn in after-tax earnings—both all-time records for Apple,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “iPhone sales of 14.1 million were up 91 per cent year-over-year, handily beating the 12.1 million phones RIM sold in their most recent quarter. We still have a few surprises left for the remainder of this calendar year.”

“Looking ahead to the first fiscal quarter of 2011, we expect revenue of about $23bn,” Jobs added.