Apple racked up US$1.67billion (£1billion) profit in the last quarter of its 2009 trading year, a rise approaching 50 per cent over the same period in 2008.

Booming iPhone and Mac computer sales are keeping the California-based computer giant’s figures buoyant, although sales of iPods were down eight per cent over the same quarter last year.

Most than half of the company’s sales are still in the USA, although that proportion continues to edge closer to parity.

The cornerstone of the figures is the great profit margin the company is achieving on its sales, especially of computers. Computer sales topped three million for the quarter, while the number of iPhones sold hit 7.4 million, up seven per cent on the same period in 2008.

“We are thrilled to have sold more Macs and iPhones than in any previous quarter,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “We’ve got a very strong line-up for the holiday season and some really great new products in the pipeline for 2010.”

Peter Oppenheimer, Apple’s CFO, added: “For the full year, we grew revenue by 12 percent and net income by 18 percent in extraordinarily challenging times. Looking ahead to the first fiscal quarter of 2010, we expect revenue in the range of about $11.3 billion to $11.6 billion and we expect diluted earnings per share in the range of about $1.70 to $1.78.”