Apple reported a 29.5 percent jump in quarterly revenue, driven by record sales of iPhone 6 and 6 Plus smartphones in the holiday shopping season and strong sales in China. Apple said it sold 74.5 million iPhones in its fiscal first quarter ended Dec. 27. Revenue rose to $74.6 billion from $57.6 billion a year earlier. Net income rose 38 percent to $18 billion, as Apple reported earnings of $3.06 a share.

"We’d like to thank our customers for an incredible quarter, which saw demand for Apple products soar to an all-time high," said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “Our revenue grew 30 percent over last year to $74.6 billion, and the execution by our teams to achieve these results was simply phenomenal."

"Our exceptional results produced EPS growth of 48 percent over last year, and $33.7 billion in operating cash flow during the quarter, an all-time record," said Luca Maestri, Apple’s CFO. "We spent over $8 billion on our capital return program, bringing total returns to investors to almost $103 billion, over $57 billion of which occurred in just the last 12 months."

Apple's revenues in China were up 70 percent this quarter, in large part due to a massive bump in iPhone sales. The company's success in the competitive Chinese market can be attributed to its partnership with China Mobile, the largest global mobile carrier.

Apple also said the company doubled iPhone sales in Singapore and Brazil.

The surge in sales of Apple's smartphones helped make up for an expected decline in sales of iPad tablets. The company sold 21.4 million iPads, down 22 percent from a year earlier. Sales of Mac computers rose 9 percent, and Apple saw overall revenue gains in all geographic regions.

Apple also forecast revenue for the current quarter between $52 billion and $55 billion.

Apple CEO Tim Cook also announced that the Apple Watch will begin shipping in April. Apple Watch is the company's first major new product since the launch of iPad, and Apple has described the smartwatch as its "most personal device ever."