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Apple just sold more Macs than ever before, a beneficiary of the work and learning from home shift fueled by the coronavirus pandemic.

The first Apple Macintosh computer was released in 1984, but 2020 was the winning year for the .

During its call Thursday, Apple said it sold $9 billion worth of Macs, up from $6.9 billion in the year ago quarter.

"These are tremendous numbers," said Apple CEO Tim Cook on the call with investors.

The company reported a fiscal fourth-quarter net income of $12.67 billion.

Macs start at $999 for the MacBook Air laptop, $1,099 for the iMac desktop and $5,000 for the professional level Mac Pro.

Cook attributed the surge in sales to the COVID crisis, and so many people needed work and learning tools to do the tasks at home.

"The move to remote working and work from home will not go back to normal," he said. "Normal will end up being something different." That said, Macs and the iPad tablet "are more important in these environments."

The sales for the iPad also jumped, with revenues of $6.8 billion, vs. $4.6 billion in the year-ago quarter.

However, sales of the flagship iPhone took a hit, but that's because the new iPhones, traditionally released in September, were delayed due to manufacturing issues. The new iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro, released Oct. 23, were not included in the earnings report.

Apple said it sold $26.4 billion worth of iPhones, down from $33.3 billion in the year ago quarter.

Two more iPhones are scheduled for Nov. 13, the iPhone 12 Pro Max and iPhone 12 Mini. Additionally, Apple is releasing a consumer priced smart speaker to take on Amazon's Echo and Google's Nest Audio speakers, the HomePod Mini for $99. The original HomePod, first sold in 2018, initially sold for $349.

Analyst Dan Ives of Wedbush Securities predicts that Apple will sell 80 million iPhones in the holiday quarter. It historically sells around 200 million iPhones yearly.

The iPhone represents the largest contributor to Apple's bottom line, followed by the Services division, for movie rentals, online backup, the Music and TV + streaming services. The division saw some $14.5 billion in sales for the quarter, up from $12.5 billion in the year ago quarter.