• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, August 1, 2017

Thanks to strong iPhone sales, Apple reported fiscal third-quarter earnings that beat analyst expectations, on Tuesday.

During the quarter ended July 1, the tech titan sold 41 million phones. This is all the more impressive considering the sentiment among many analysts that consumers were waiting for the upcoming iPhone 8.

As a result, Apple saw quarterly revenue rise from $42.4 billion to $45.4 billion, year-over-year, and earnings per diluted share increase from $1.42 to $1.67.

“We reported unit and revenue growth in all our product categories in the June quarter, driving 17% growth in earnings per share,” Apple CFO Luca Maestri stated.

Despite the strong quarter, Apple CEO Tim Cook seemed particularly pumped for the fourth quarter, on Tuesday.

“We’re very excited about the advances in iOS, macOS, watchOS and tvOS coming this fall,” the successor to Steve Jobs stated.

Officially, Apple is anticipating revenue between $49 billion and $52 billion during its fiscal fourth quarter, along with a gross margin between 37.5% and 38%.

Of course, Cook isn’t the only one looking ahead to next quarter.

“Apple’s quarterly results and outlook will be less important this week as investors are focused on the iPhone 8 this fall,” Brian White, an analyst at Drexel Hamilton, wrote in a client note.

Among other new efforts, Apple debuted its first smart speaker during the second quarter. Named HomePod, the new gadget is expected to begin selling in December for $349.