According to Apple, the new iPhone 12 led to a sales increase of 21 percent in the last quarter and brought the company for the first time a quarterly sales of over 100 billion US dollars.

The tech giant is the third American company to have $ 100 billion in sales in a single quarter, joining Walmart and Exxon Mobil. Analysts expect Amazon to join the club when it releases its latest quarterly results next week.

The company’s profit rose 29 percent year over year to a record $ 28.8 billion. Sales were $ 111.4 billion. The results slightly exceeded analysts’ estimates.

The strong quarter was fueled by Apple’s newest iPhones, which went on sale in October. Analysts and investors had been expecting a strong quarter for months as many iPhone owners waited to upgrade their devices to buy the new iPhones that work on faster 5G wireless networks. According to Apple, iPhone sales rose 17 percent to $ 65.6 billion. This is a significant reversal from a 21 percent decline in iPhone sales in the previous quarter.

The record results were the latest sign of the growing power and strength of the largest tech companies, which have only gotten bigger and richer since the pandemic began.

As more people rely on its products to work, learn, and socialize online, Apple has been an undisputed winner, and investors have bought their stocks accordingly. In August, Apple became the first American company to reach a valuation of $ 2 trillion. On Wednesday, less than six months later, Apple was valued at just under $ 2.4 trillion, making it by far the most valuable publicly traded company in the world.

Apple had a particularly strong quarter in China. Sales in the Greater China region, which includes mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong, rose 57 percent to a record $ 21.3 billion.