Lower than expected sales following the launch of its highly anticipated iPhone has failed to dent Apple’s third quarter profits.

Profits at the electronics giant soared 73 per cent to a record high of $818m (£398m), and revenue also jumped 24 per cent to $5.4bn (£2.6bn).

Shipments of more than 1.7 million Macintosh computers during the three month period, up 33 per cent, and sales of more than nine million iPods, up 21 per cent, were behind the record results.

But despite selling 270,000 iPhones in the first two days, the launch disappointed experts' initial predictions of around 500,000 sales in the first weekend.

But Apple chief executive Steve Jobs remains confident that the iPhone will be in the hands of more than 10 million customers by the end of next year.

‘The iPhone is off to a great start and we hope to see our one millionth iPhone by the end of its first full quarter of sales,’ said Jobs.

‘We are also thrilled to report the highest June quarter revenue and profit in Apple’s history, along with the highest quarterly Mac sales ever.’

Apple set a conservative estimate for the fourth quarter, predicting sales of $5.7bn (£2.8bn), compared to analyst expectations of more than $6bn (£2.9bn).