New York, Aug 2 (IANS): Apple has announced its financial results for the third quarter of the fiscal year 2017, with profit rising to $8.7 billion, nearly 12 per cent higher than in the same period of 2016.

The strong results announced on Tuesday send the share price of the tech company up by six per cent in after hours trading, Efe news reported.

Apple's CEO Tim Cook said that the company is in its "third consecutive quarter of accelerating growth" and has achieved "an all-time quarterly record for Services revenue."

During the third quarter, which ended on Monday, the California-based company generated net earnings per share of $1.67, compared to the $1.42 it had achieved between May and July 2016, when it earned a total of $7.79 billion.

Apple's total revenue reached $45.4 billion in this quarter, representing a seven per cent increase over the same months of 2016, when it managed to raise $42.3 billion.

Much of the revenue came from iPhone sales, which, with 41 million units sold between May and June, contributed $24.8 billion to that figure.

The revenue from services, which include the company's digital content and the Apple Pay application, among others, reached $7.26 billion, showing a 21 per cent jump over the third quarter of 2016, when it was $5.97 billion.

Apple currently has $261.5 billion in cash, 94 per cent of which are outside the US. This figure is 13 per cent higher than that reported at the end of May, when it announced that it had about $256 billion.