Apple's iPhone business alone now bigger than whole of Microsoft

Phoenix Herald (ANI) Tuesday 7th February, 2012

Apple's iPhone business alone is now bigger than the whole of Microsoft, recent revenue figures have revealed.

The tech giant's popular smartphone division generated 24.4 billion dollars of revenue in the quarter up until December, whereas the whole of Microsoft generated 20.9 billion dollars in the same quarter.

This included the software firm's entertainment devices such as Xbox, as well as Windows, Microsoft Office and Windows Phone.

Bussiness Insider, which highlighted the figures revealed that Apple sold 37.04 million iPhones, its flagship product, and 15.43 million iPads in the quarter up until December, doubling from a year earlier.

According to the paper, Apple's hoard of cash now stands at 100 billion dollars, which could be enough to buy Facebook outright, The Daily Mail reports.

Apple only overtook Microsoft's market capitalisation in May 2010, the first time the company had been ahead of its rival computer company since 1989.

Apple overtook Exxon to become the world's number one company in terms of market cap in August 2011. (ANI)