Technology behemoth Apple surprised the financial markets – and possibly itself – by reporting what is believed to be the biggest quarterly profit in corporate history. In three months, the company hauled in $US18 billion. That's about $22.7 billion in proper money.

The figure sails past the usual scale of superlatives (words like unimaginable and astronomical) and veers straight into incalculable, so we've tried to translate it with one explanation per $US1 billion.

Hold on to your wallets ...

1. More than the GDP of the 10 poorest nations in Africa combined

2. Enough to finance Medicare across the nation for all of 2015.