TECHNOLOGY giant Apple has posted an 85% rise in its full-year revenues after bumper sales of new model iPads and iPhones.

The US company said bottom-line profit for the year to September 24 was £16.5 billion but the company’s results were greeted by a slight drop in its share price after sales of its new 4S phone were weaker than forecast.

Overall revenues totalled were £17.7 billion for the three months. That was more than £600m less than Wall Street forecasts. It is the first time that Apple has missed analysts’ sales forecasts since 2008.

New chief executive Tim Cook said that demand for the model may have been affected by rumours of the launch of a new model.

“The reduction happened largely in the back half of the quarter as the speculation hit extreme highs.

“However, we’re thrilled to be shipping the new iPhone 4S ... and we’re very confident that we will set an all-time record in the December quarter for iPhone sales.”

Apple sold 17.1 million iPhones in the last quarter, around a fifth up on a year ago, although analysts had expected sales of 20 million.

Cook also paid tribute to his predecessor and Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, who died this month.

He said: “Steve was a great leader and mentor and inspired everyone at Apple to do extraordinary things.

“I’d like to take this opportunity to express our gratitude for all of the condolences and expressions of support that we have received following Steve’s passing.”