On Tuesday Apple announced its best ever revenues, which were not only a record for the Cupertino company when it blew every forecast out of the water, but also set a new world record for the most profitable financial quarter of any company in history, according to Standard & Poor’s.

Apple’s record quarter is highest ever

Apple’s $18B in net profit even surpassed the previous world record of $15.9B, which was set by oil company ExxonMobil in 2012. Yesterday’s figures equate to $8.3 million per hour. But while iPhone sales, revenue and profit all exceeded expectations, the analysts hit the nail on the head in one regard…

It was already widely stated that the iPhone 6 Plus, coupled with the availability of a 64 GB capacity across the range, would help margins exceed the figure forecast by Apple, which was 37.5-38.5%. As noted by the Wall Street Journal, the average selling price rose year-on-year by $50 to $687, helping Apple achieve a gross margin of 39.9%.

Tim Cook also noted in the company’s earning call that many people buying the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus were new Apple customers. It’s thought that many of them were Android switchers who had been waiting for a larger iPhone for some time.

“I would point out that only a small fraction of the installed base has upgraded, so there’s a lot more people within the installed base, but I would also point out that we had the highest number of customers new to iPhone last quarter than in any prior launch. And also that the current iPhone lineup experienced the highest Android switcher rate in any of the last three launches in any of the three previous years. We didn’t look back to the other years, I don’t know about those.”

The iPhone lineup now accounts for 69% of total Apple revenue, according to fan site 9t05Mac.com.

Larry Banks is a keen follower of technology and finance. He has worked for a variety of online publications, writing about a diverse range of topics including mobile networks, patents, and Internet video delivery technologies.