In one of the more anticipated non-device-related events of the quarter, Apple, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) made its fourth quarter earnings announcement on Thursday, reporting an increase of close to 25 percent in fourth quarter profits. Currently, Apple’s profits are at $8.2 billion, which translates to $8.67 per diluted share.

In terms of individual device sales, Apple had sold 26.9 million iPhones, 14 million iPad tablet computers and close to 5 million Macs, or iMac all-in-one desktop computers and MacBook notebooks.

Quarterly revenue was $36 billion for the September ending quarter, which officially closed on September 29 of this year. Last year’s September ending quarter statistics had Apple generating $28.3 billion revenue and $6.6 billion net profit, with $7.05 per diluted share. For gross margins, Apple reported 40.0 percent, a slight downtick from Q3 2011’s 40.3 percent.

Apple Chief Executive Timothy D. “Tim” Cook was buoyant when announcing the September ending quarter financial results. “We’re entering this holiday season with the best iPhone, iPad, Mac and iPod products ever, and we remain very confident in our new product pipeline,” said Cook.

The 26.9 million iPhones sold in Q3 2012 was good enough for a unit growth of 58 percent year-over-year. The iPad’s unit growth was at 26 percent, while the Mac’s unit increase was an ever so slight 1 percent compared to the third quarter of last year.

The upcoming holiday quarter may even be a better one for Apple. According to Apple Chief Financial Officer Peter Oppenheimer, Apple is expected to earn $52 billion revenue in the December ending quarter (first fiscal quarter of 2013) with a diluted earnings per share of approximately $11.75.