Apple's shares are soaring high after a record Q3 earnings

When Apple reported fiscal third-quarter earnings on Tuesday, it not only beat analysts' expectations but also posted its best growth in seven quarters as shipments of Apple iPhones rose 1.6 percent to 41.03 million.

The company posted quarterly revenue of $45.4 billion and quarterly earnings per diluted share of $1.67. “With revenue up 7 percent year-over-year, we’re happy to report our third consecutive quarter of accelerating growth and an all-time quarterly record for Services revenue,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO.

Wall Street responded positively to the results and guidance for the fourth quarter, with shares rising over 5 percent in after-hours trading. The star performer was the company’s services business, which generated $7 billion in the quarter, up nearly 22 percent from a year earlier. This business line includes Apple’s subscription services, such as Apple Music, and iCloud storage, as well as apps, games, and any fees associated with Apple Pay and its AppleCare protection service.

Interestingly, iPhone was not the only Apple product that saw a jump in sales. Surprisingly, there was a 15 percent year-over-year increase in iPad unit sales too. The 15 percent increase brings unit sales for Q3 to 11.4 million on revenue of $4.96 billion. Apple's “other products” category that includes Apple Watches, Apple TVs, Beats electronics, iPods and Apple-branded accessories brought in $2.74 billion in revenue and was up 23 percent since the same period last year. According to Apple CEO Tim Cook, Apple Watch sales were also up more than 50 percent since last year. As for Macs, it sold 4.3 million Mac units.

Apple also said that it expects fourth-quarter revenue between $49 billion and $52 billion, higher than what Wall Street expected — around $49.2 billion.