Apple Expected To Ride iPad, iPhone Sales To Stellar Q4

Analysts and industry watchers expect the Apple iPad, the six-month-old touch-screen tablet, to fuel a massive revenue jump for Apple. And while the Apple iPad continued to sell like gangbusters, the Apple iPhone and the recent launch of the iPhone 4 still keep Apple at the top of the smartphone heap. The iPad and the iPhone combined are expected to be Apple's dynamic duo going into its earnings call today at 5 p.m. eastern.

All told, TheStreet.com predicts that Apple will report profit of $4.08 per share on revenue of $18.9 billion for the quarter, which would mark a 54 percent increase year over year and a jump from Apple's blockbuster $15.7 billion third quarter. BGC Partners has a brighter outlook, predicting $4.09 profit per share on $19.25 billion in revenue.

Various analysts have predicted that the iPad, which Apple launched in April, could have sold anywhere from around 2 million units to more than 6 million in the fourth quarter. In the third quarter, Apple sold an estimated 3.3 million units, putting industry watchers' expectations more around 4.5 million to 5 million units for the fourth quarter.

Another sales boom for Apple in the fourth quarter was the Apple iPhone 4, the latest version of the now-iconic smartphone that launched in June. Analysts are putting iPhone 4 sales anywhere from roughly 8 million, which is a lowball figure, to exceeding 13 million. More realistically, Apple is looking at about 11 million to 12 million iPhones sold in the fourth quarter, a massive jump on the 7.4 million iPhones apple unloaded in the same quarter last year and a big win for a new model of the device considering the troubles the iPhone 4 faced in its first few months on the market.

Along with its iPad and iPhone successes, Apple could also reveal a boost in Mac sales, which some industry watchers estimate could reach 3.5 million to 4 million.