Apple sold $US6.5 billion in bonds, after boosting the deal by 30 per cent, in the iPhone maker's fourth major debt offering in the past two years as it preserves its overseas cash hoard.

The company sold the securities in five parts, with the longest portion maturing in 30 years, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The deal will be used for stock repurchases, dividend payments and debt repayments, according to a person with knowledge of the matter.

The borrowing comes after Apple posted a 30 per cent jump in fiscal first quarter revenue to $US74.6 billion on January 27, its largest sales increase in three years.

Apple has issued the equivalent of $US39 billion of bonds since April 2013, when it sold $US17 billion in what at the time was the biggest corporate-bond offering ever. The Cupertino, California-based company's previous debt deal was a sale of 2.8 billion euros ($US3.17 billion) in November that allowed it to fund shareholder rewards without using cash from abroad that would be subject to U.S. repatriation taxes.

"The company is building on the momentum of a strong past couple of weeks," Jody Lurie, a corporate credit analyst at Janney Montgomery Scott, which manages $US61 billion in assets, said in a telephone interview. "They are being advantageous with the current environment."