Apple's record-breaking quarterly results explained with 22 figures

Even by its own high standards, Apple's financial results for the final three months of 2015 which it has just reported are incredible.

Records have been smashed left, right and centre and huge figures are being bandied about willy-nilly by people on Facebook and Twitter. But what do all these figures mean and just what do they mean for Apple, the iPhone and the future.

Here we attempt to gather together all the mind-boggling figures revealed in Apple's Q1 2015 results and give them some context to give you an idea of just what it means for Apple's future:

● Money, Money, Money

$18bn - The amount of profit Apple made last quarter. This is the largest quarterly earnings in global corporate history, beating the previous record of $16.24 set by Russian energy company Gazprom

$74.6bn - The amount of revenue the company generated during the 91 days of the quarter. That means it generated more than $818m every single day or over $34m every single hour or over $568,500 every single minute or $9,475 every second or... well you get the idea.

$178bn - The amount of cash Apple now has on hand. This amount of money is hard to comprehend, but put it like this: Apple could now but all but 17 of the S&P 500 companies based on their market capitalisation. That means it could buy Intel, Bank of America, Via, IBM or Amazon.

1 billion - Where is all this money coming from? Well Apple announced that it shipped its one billionth iOS device (iPhone, iPad, iPod touch) in December - just eight years after it launched the original iPhone.

• Everyone is buying iPhones

74.5 million - the total number of iPhones Apple sold during the quarter.

818,681 - the number of iPhones Apple sold every single day during the quarter.

34,111 - the number of iPhones Apple sold every single hour during the quarter.

568 - the number of iPhones Apple sold every single minute during the quarter.

9.5 - the number of iPhones Apple sold every single second during the quarter.

$687 - The average selling price (ASP) of the iPhone up from $604 in the previous quarter, setting a new record for Apple. Considering the iPhone 6 Plus costs $100 more than the iPhone 6, this may not be such as big surprise. But when you consider that both Microsoft and Samsung's smartphone ASPs are below $250, you get an idea of just how huge a business the iPhone is.

• China Power

70% - the year-on-year growth in revenue from China, which is quickly becoming Apple's most important market. While still trailing the Americas significantly, it is likely to surpass Europe as the second most profitable region during this quarter.

1 - Apple became the number one smartphone seller in China during the final three months of 2014. Apple has never been higher than 4th on the list, but the introduction of the large screen iPhones 6 and iPhone 6 Plus have clearly captured the imagination.

US still king - Despite reports to the contrary last week, Apple's chief financial officer told reporters this week that it didn't sell more iPhones in China than the US - though how long that will remain the case is hard to say.

$16.1bn - The amount of revenue generated in Greater China last quarter, up 157% on the previous quarter and driven almost entirely by the launch of the iPhone 6.

40 - the number of Apple retail stores which will be open by the middle of 2016 in China. This week it opened only its 16th store, indicating just how much importance it is putting on Chinese growth.

• iPad decline

18% - The amount iPad unit sales fell in the quarter. The one sour note during Apple's record-breaking earnings call was the continued decline in iPad sales which was widely expected.

22% - What will be even more worrying is that revenue from iPad fell even more, indicating that the introduction of iPad Air 2 and iPad mini 3 didn't have the boost some may have expected. It also indicated the iPad mini, which is on sale for less than £200 could be making up a big proportion of sales.

Q2 and beyond - Tim Cook however was not taking this lying down, saying he believes the iPad as a product has a "bright future" but the turnaround isn't going to happen any time soon:

I'm not projecting. To be clear with everyone, I'm not projecting something very different next quarter or the next. I'm thinking over the long run.

50% - One of reasons for Cook's optimistic outlook is the fact that half of people buying Apple's tablet in the US, Japan and UK were first time iPad buyers, suggesting there is still room to grow.

• Return of the Mac

5.5 million - Apple sold 5.5 million Mac computers during the quarter which is identical to the amount it sold in the previous quarter but up 14% compared to last year.

-2.4% - The overall PC market declined by 2.4% between the final quarter of 2013, and the last three months of 2014, but Apple is bucking that trend.

5K - Apple launched this ultra-high resolution Retina 5K iMac in October and it will likely have given Mac sales a boost as it failed to introduce any new MacBooks during the quarter.