The accolades are ringing in from around the world about Apple's mind boggling monster quarter. Last night we reported on some of the facts behind Apple's iPhone 6 mania that drove profits to historic highs along with other colorful commentary from Tim Cook about calendar Q4 and what's ahead for Apple in 2015. In the end, the one fact that Tim Cook stated that captured Apple's historic quarter succinctly is this: Apple sold 34,000 iPhones every hour, 24 hours a day, every day of the quarter. Today's report covers some of the headlines ringing Apple's praises today. Tomorrow, Samsung reports their quarterly numbers and we already know it's going to another disaster. It's just a matter of how big a disaster. That news will just top of the week just right.

Apple's China Strategy pays off with Surge in Earnings – The New York Times

"Overall sales of iPhones shattered analysts' predictions. The company on Tuesday reported $16.1 billion in revenue from 'greater China' — which includes mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan — in its first fiscal quarter, up 70 percent from the same period a year ago. Canalys, a research firm, estimates that Apple is now the No. 1 smartphone maker in China.

Apple ascendant: 74.5M iPhones sold last quarter – USA Today

Apple's blow-out quarter surprised even analysts, who expected a whopper during the traditionally strong holiday shopping season, and sent the company's stock soaring. Van Baker, mobile analyst at Gartner stated that Apple "closed the feature gap — namely the lack of a large screen (with iPhone 6 Plus) — and, as a result, they blew the doors off for revenue and earnings."

Apple Smashes Forecasts, Selling 74.5 Million iPhones In Q1 – Forbes

"Apple crushed expectations for its first quarter of fiscal 2015, selling a remarkable 74.6 million iPhones …" Forbes writer Parmy Olson added that Apple's "grip on the market for the most profitable, high-end phones is only strengthening: even as sales jumped amid talk of monetary deflation in several of the world's big economies, Apple said the average selling price for the iPhone rose by around $50, to $687."

Staggering' iPhone Demand Helps Lift Apple's Quarterly Profit by 38% - The Wall Street Journal

"Results were remarkable, even for a company that has increased revenue more than tenfold in the past decade. They recalled the Steve Jobs heyday when iPhone demand routinely topped forecasts. In some ways, the gains are more impressive because Apple today faces many more competitors and because smartphone growth is thought to be slowing."

Apple Announces Record iPhone Sales over Holiday Quarter – Bloomberg

"The results, combined with Apple Watch's rollout date, underscored how Cook still has levers left to pull for growth. Even with Apple producing more than $182 billion in annual revenue and at a market capitalization of more than $635 billion, it still has the ability to expand faster than other technology companies, many of which have seen their growth rates decline to the low single digits."

Apple takes high road in China smartphone standoff with Xiaomi – Reuters

Apple's "result in China, as well as other emerging markets such as Brazil, marks a riposte to critics who questioned the firm's strategy a year ago not to launch a cheaper phone to lure cost-conscious buyers from Xiaomi and Samsung.

Apple is steering clear of Chinese rival Xiaomi's low-price online strategy, ramping up store openings in China to harness its premium edge and fend off the fast-growing No.3 global smartphone maker."

Reuters further noted that "For Apple, brick-and-mortar stores help it maintain a premium image, from the product to in-store service and even packaging, allowing the firm to charge far higher prices than rivals - vital to its enviable profit margins.

Shi Xinchao, 24, a civil servant in Jiangsu province agreed with that by stating: "If you could only get an Apple product online, then there wouldn't be the same user experience and so people might not be so willing to buy. After all, it's an expensive product."

The 5 Craziest Numbers From Apple's Earnings Report – Time

Apple Sold a Bonkers Number of iPhones Over the Holidays – Wired

Apple's iPhone Success Lifts LG and SK Hynix to Record Quarters

Apple's monstrous quarterly success rippled through to their two main suppliers SK Hynix and LG Display. In Q4 SK Hynix, the world's second-largest memory chipmaker, reported a net profit of $1.5 billion in Q4 and reported today that they had record annual earnings which rose 46%.

In one report today it was noted that LG Display, the world's biggest maker of LCD displays, reported its highest quarterly profits in four years with help from strong iPhone display demand. In a second report, The Korean Times actually claimed that it was LG's largest profit in 6 years.

Apple's Monster Quarter Reduced Samsung to Road Kill

In the shadow of Apple's historic quarter is Samsung who will officially report another disastrous quarter tomorrow. The Wall Street Journal reports that Samsung's net profit of 4.5 trillion won (U.S. $4.2 billion) is the forecast, according to the average estimate of eight analysts polled by The Wall Street Journal, compared with 7.3 trillion won a year earlier.

As the news began to surface in 2015 that Apple was going to enter the market with their first phablet, Samsung was laughing it off in the press stating that they were the ones who invented that category. Samsung laughs no more as Apple's phablet catapulted them into being the number two smartphone vendor in South Korea, a breakthrough for a foreign company.

The numbers could have been much higher if the South Korean government had allowed Apple to open their own stores in their country. The government protecting Samsung at all costs makes Samsung look like a gigantic wimp.

In this quarter, Apple's iPhone 6 crushed Samsung like Godzilla stepping on a dinky toy. In this round of the smartphone wars, Samsung was simply reduced to Apple's road kill.

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