San Francisco, Apr 27 (IANS): Focusing on software and services in addition to its flagship hardware, Apple services revenue in the second quarter is expected to reach $7 billion.

"While the iPhone remains Apple's biggest top-line contributor by far, services such as Apple Care and Apple Music surpassed the Mac last year, as revenues topped $24 billion," technology website marketwatch.com reported.

Revenue from services, which represents Apple's most profitable business segment, is expected to climb 18 per cent to $7.1 billion this quarter, according to financial data and software company FactSet's survey of around 40 analysts.

Apple is expected to report GAAP earnings per share of $2.02, up from $1.90 in the year-earlier period and will report revenue of $53 billion, up from $50.5 billion in the same period last year.

The company is expected to have shipped 52 million phones during the quarter, up from 51 million in the year-earlier period.

Benefiting from its expensive 'plus' models and rising demands of its products, Apple Inc will be worth at least $824 billion this year, analysts predicted earlier this month.

Apple's shares already soared more than 16 per cent to fresh highs during the second quarter but analysts are optimistic the stock has much more room to grow.

According to a report in USA Today, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak believed that Apple, Google and Facebook will be bigger in 2075 and dominate the world.