Apple's profit increased 26 percent from its year-ago quarterly profit of $904 million. Strong shipments of Macs, iPods and iPhones led the company to $7.9 billion in revenue for the quarter--a 27 percent jump from last year's quarterly sales mark.

Apple reported earnings per share of $1.26 for the quarter, topping analysts' estimates of $1.11 per share and its own forecast of $1 per share.

However, Apple painted a much more challenging picture for the first quarter of its 2009 fiscal year. For that quarter, which ends December 31, Apple said it expects revenue of between $9 and $10 billion and earnings ranging from $1.06 to $1.35 a share--a forecast chief financial officer Peter Oppenheimer characterized as "prudent." Analysts had expected $10.57 billion in revenue and earnings of $1.65 per share for the upcoming quarter.

"We think we're doing the right things, and we think we know what the results may be, but there's a lot of prudence built in," CEO Steve Jobs said during Apple's quarterly conference call with financial analysts. "We're not economists and we read the same newspapers you do."

Still, Apple can take cheer in the performance of its iPhone, boosted by the July debut of the iPhone 3G. Apple sold 6.8 million iPhones during the quarter--a figure topped the 6.1 million total sales of original iPhone, according to Oppenheimer. Apple's sold more iPhones during the just-completed quarter than in all quarters combined.