Bring ’em on!

That was the strong message Apple sent to the Samsungs, Sonys, Motorolas, HTCs and other Android vendors nipping at its heels.

Apple sold 31.2 million iPhones in its fiscal third quarter ending June 29 proving that the pricey smartphones can still weather the attack from the dozens of Android devices flooding the market.

iPhone unit sales were 5.1 million units ahead of analysts estimates of 26.1 million units for the quarter.

Average selling price of the iPhones were 4% (about $27) less year-over-year.

Apple sold a significant number of lower-priced iPhone 4 and 4S in the quarter, leading to lower average selling price.

In the same quarter a year ago, Apple sold 26 million iPhones.

Total iPhone sales since launch in 2007 were 387.57 million units at the end of June.

If you include sales in the current quarter, total iPhone sales since launch must be nearing the 400 million mark.

iPhone – Indian Picture

On a conference call with analysts, Apple CEO Tim Cook said iPhone sales were up 400% in India.

But keep in mind that the iPhone base is still pretty low in India compared to mature markets like the U.S.

Unlike the U.S. market, consumers in India must pay full price for the iPhone since they are not subsidized by the carriers.

Lower priced smartphones from Samsung, Micromax and Karbonn are posing a stiff challenge to the pricey iPhone in India.

iPhone sales were strong in other developing markets too like the Philippines.

Mainland China was up but sales were down in Hong Kong, dragging down total iPhone numbers for China.

Tablets Down

Sales of the company’s market-leading iPad tablets were down in the quarter.

Apple sold 14.6 million iPads during the quarter, compared to 17 million in the year-ago quarter.

Unlike in the smartphone segment where iPhones have lost ground to Samsung’s Android phones, Apple continue to dominate the tablet market.

Over 80% of the web traffic from tablets comes from the iPad.

iPad rivals, both Android and Windows Surface, continue to struggle.

Just last week, Microsoft took a $900 million charge over unsold inventory of Surface RT tablets.

The Company sold 3.8 million Macs, slightly less than the 4 million it sold in the year-ago quarter.

Good Show

Apple continues to enjoy margins of over 50% on the iPhones fueling the company’s solid financial performance in the third quarter.

The company reported a profit of $6.9 billion on revenues of $35.3 billion in the June quarter.

Apple had $146.6 billion in cash at the end of the quarter, of which $106 billion is stashed overseas to avoid U.S. taxes.

  Apple, iPad, iphone