Apple Inc on Tuesday reported resilient iPhone sales in the face of waning global demand and promised $100 billion in additional stock buybacks, reassuring investors that its decade-old smartphone invention had life in it yet.

Apple’s quarterly results topped Wall Street forecasts, which dropped ahead of the report on growing concern over the iPhone. The Cupertino, California-based company also was more optimistic about the current quarter than most financial analysts, driving shares up 3.6 per cent to $175.25 after hours.

Suppliers around the globe had warned of smartphone weakness, playing into fears that the company known for popularising personal computers, tablets and smartphones had become too reliant on the iPhone.

Sales of 52.2 million iPhones against a Wall Street target of 52.3 million was a comfort and up from 50.7 million last year.  Apple bought $23.5 billion of stock in the March quarter, and said it planned to hike its dividend 16 per cent, compared with a 10.5 per cent increase last year. Analysts believe the heavy emphasis on buybacks will bolster share prices, but some investors wished Apple had found different uses for the cash. 

Apple posted revenue for its March quarter of $61.1 billion, up from $52.9 billion last year.