Apple shares hit a record high on Monday as investors cheered reports its iPhone 17 sales are outpacing prior models, with the hardware giant now more valuable than Microsoft and nearing a $US4 trillion valuation.

Most of the world’s most valuable tech companies, including Apple, Tesla, Alphabet, Microsoft and Meta, will report their September quarter profits over the next two weeks. They are key bellwethers of consumer demand for products linked to advances in artificial intelligence.

According to a Counterpoint Research report on Monday, Apple’s iPhone 17 sales are 16 per cent ahead of the iPhone 16 in the US and China, within the first 10 days of its release.

Apple says the iPhone 17 uses AI to improve the services of online assistant Siri, image editing and camera enhancements like

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