Apple Inc’s quarterly profit almost doubled after a jump in iPhone sales, particularly for the greater China region, blowing past Wall Street expectations and soothing fears the device was past its best days for sharp growth.

Shares in Apple, the world’s most valuable technology company, shot up eight per cent in after-hours trade, after falling as much as 13 per cent from a record high of $644 in the past two weeks.

The results prompted a slew of analysts to raise their target price for Apple.

Apple sold 35.1 million iPhones (which account for about half its revenue) in the quarter, outpacing around 30 million expected by Wall Street analysts. Pent-up demand for the iPhone 4S helped lift revenue for China, Taiwan and Hong Kong five-fold.

“The room to grow in China is still very large, especially because Apple hasn’t started working with China Mobile. Once they start cooperation, it’ll keep the growth momentum going even in Q2 when global iPhone 4S sales are expected to drop,” said Mike Fang, a fund manager at Paradigm Asset Management based in Taipei.

China Mobile, the world’s largest mobile operator by subscribers, is the only Chinese carrier that does not have a contract with Apple to sell iPhones.

Net income rose to $11.6 billion, or $12.30 a share, from $6 billion, or $6.40 per share, a year earlier, outpacing a Thomson Reuters consensus estimate of $10.04 a share.

Fiscal second-quarter revenue jumped to $39.2 billion, 59 per cent more than a year earlier and 6.5 per cent higher than analysts’ average forecasts.

“International iPhone sales were on fire,” Apple chief financial officer Peter Oppenheimer told Reuters in an interview, noting the five-fold increase in Greater China sales to $7.9 billion.

But sales of the iPad, the latest version of which hit store shelves in mid-March, came in at 11.8 million iPads, below an average forecast of up to 13 million.