Apple shares have tumbled by 12 per cent as investors fret over whether the company could lose its dominance in the smartphone market.
The British Broadcasting Corporation reported that about $50bn (£32bn) was wiped off Apple’s value after the biggest daily drop in the firm’s stock in four years.
Flat profits and record quarterly revenue of $55bn were not enough to overcome disappointment over sales of the company’s new iPhone 5.
Analysts said the firm was in danger of becoming a victim of its own success.
Earlier, shares in some of Apple’s key Asian suppliers also fell.
LG, which provides displays for Apple products, fell 3.1 per cent, and Hon Hai, which assembles iPhones and iPads, dropped 3.2 per cent.
Apple was unable to repeat its usual growth in profits, which were unchanged from a year earlier at $13.1bn.
The firm said late on Wednesday it had sold more iPhones (47.8 million) and iPads (22.9 million) in the final three months of last year than in any previous quarter, but investors had expected more.
Shares in the firm have fallen by a third since September over concerns the company may be losing its edge over increasingly confident competitors.