Apple’s sales have grown at the fastest pace for two years amid growing demand for its new iPhones, although the tech giant continued to struggle in China.

The Silicon Valley giant reported a 6pc increase in revenue to $94.9bn (£73.6bn) in the three months to the end of September.

Sales of the iPhone, the company’s best selling product, were up 5.5pc, reversing two consecutive quarters of falling sales.

However, Apple’s business in China shrunk for a fifth consecutive set of quarterly results. Sales in the country fell by just 0.3pc, but had been expected to rise after a year of falling revenues.

Apple chief executive Tim Cook has mounted a diplomatic offensive in China in recent months in an attempt to reverse its decline, seeking to protect the company’s operations in the country from an escalating trade war and the revived threat from Huawei

Last week he told the country’s IT minister that he planned to boost investment in the country. It comes despite Apple increasingly assembling its iPhones in countries such as India amid the looming threat of Chinese tariffs spiking under a Trump presidency.

Overall, Apple’s profits fell by 36pc to $14.7bn as the company booked the €13bn (£11bn) cost of a tax penalty in Ireland, having recently lost a decade-long fight with the European Commission in September.

Shares in the company, the world’s biggest by market value, fell slightly after the results were released.

The figures included the first few days after Apple’s latest iPhone 16 went on sale at the end of September. Apple is hoping that new artificial intelligence capabilities in the devices will provide a boost to sales, although many of the features the company has promised are not yet available.

Mr Cook said the new AI system “supercharges our lineup heading into the holiday season”.

Sales of Apple’s Macs and iPads also grew, while revenues from the company’s multibillion-dollar services business, made up of software such as the App Store and Apple Music, rose.

It came as Intel, the embattled American microchip giant, enjoyed a share price leap despite the company reporting an enormous loss.

The company reported a 6pc drop in revenue to $13.3bn and a $16.6bn net loss – the biggest in the company’s history. Intel booked billions in restructuring and impairment charges as it lays off thousands of staff and writes down the value of manufacturing operations.

However, it forecast an improvement in the final quarter of the year, sending shares up by more than 13pc.

Intel, which has received billions in grants and loans from the Biden administration’s attempt to revive US semiconductor manufacturing, has been considering breaking itself up as part of a radical effort to regain its place at the cutting edge.

The company has been squeezed by dominant Taiwanese manufacturer TSMC and the rise of AI chips from Nvidia.