The second quarter of 2010 has, as we projected, proved to be great for Apple. Overall gross margins rose almost 42% in the quarter; that’s an increase over 39.9% for the second quarter of 2009 and 40.9% for Q1 2010. Most importantly, the global sales of iPhone lead the charge, especially in Asia, to the tune of 474% growth in the Asia Pacific region, 183% in Japan, and 133% here in Europe. Of particular interest was China; iPhone sales were up 200% in China, and Apple is opening 2 new stores in Shanghai later this year, with 25 stores total in China by the end of next year.

Mac sales are up too; year over year changes were 27% growth, which nets out with 40% growth in desktops (we suspect the sexy new iMac the majority of this) and 28% growth in portables, though revenues were only up 17% due to lower prices. According to the sales call, half of these Mac sales were to new customers, so Apple continues to have success with its “switch” efforts.

Apple reports this is its best non-holiday quarter ever, and it easily beat wall street expectations with profits of $3.07B again revenues of $13.5B, which works out to $3.33 per share (compared to expectations of $2.45 a share).

The only down point in the report was iPod sales, which were down 1%, though revenues jumped 12%, likely due to lower memory prices. And we suspect all those new iPhones might have cannibalized some of those sales.