By Johann M Cherian

(Reuters) -Apple ( AAPL ) topped $4 trillion in market value for the first time on Tuesday, the third Big Tech company to hit the milestone, as robust demand for its latest iPhone models allayed fears over its slow progress in the AI race.

The stock was last up 0.2% at $269.2 in early trading, hitting an all-time high.

Apple's ( AAPL ) shares have gained about 13% since the new launches on September 9, in a remarkable turnaround that pushed the stock into positive territory for the first time this year. 

"The iPhone accounts for over half of Apple's ( AAPL ) profit and revenue and the more phones they can get into the hands of people, the more they can drive people into their ecosystem," said Chris Zaccarelli, chief investment officer for Northlight Asset Management, ahead of the milestone.

Apple ( AAPL ) shares had struggled earlier this year on concerns over tough competition in China and uncertainties around how the company would navigate high U.S. tariffs on Asian economies such as China and India, its major manufacturing hubs. 

The latest smartphones, including the iPhone 17 line-up and the iPhone Air, wooed back customers from Beijing to Moscow within the first few weeks of launch, while the company has swallowed the high costs from the tariffs.

Analysts said the iPhone Air's slim design could help fend off rivals such as Samsung Electronics ( SSNLF ), while early sales of the iPhone 17 outperformed its predecessor by 14% in the U.S. and China, data from research firm Counterpoint showed.

Brokerage Evercore ISI expects the strong demand for Apple's ( AAPL ) latest iPhones to help it surpass market expectations for the three-month period ending in September and issue upbeat forecasts for the quarter ending in December.

Apple ( AAPL ) is the third company to hit the $4 trillion mark after Nvidia ( NVDA ) and Microsoft ( MSFT ). Nvidia ( NVDA ) currently tops the table with a market value of more than $4.5 trillion.

Microsoft ( MSFT ) reclaimed its membership of the exclusive club after shares rose 2.2% following a deal with OpenAI to allow the ChatGPT maker to restructure itself into a public benefit corporation.

Apple's ( AAPL ) cautious approach to AI had fueled concerns it could lose out on what could be the industry's biggest growth catalyst in decades. Recent reports also indicate that the company is losing a number of its senior artificial intelligence executives to Meta.

The company was slow to roll out its Apple Intelligence suite, including a ChatGPT integration, while an AI upgrade to its voice assistant Siri has been delayed until next year.

Apple ( AAPL ) has explored several tie-ups with Alphabet's Gemini AI, Anthropic and OpenAI, according to reports.

"The lack of a well-understood artificial intelligence strategy is clearly one of the things that is an overhang for the stock. If they could figure out how to incorporate artificial intelligence in a way that would excite consumers and the market, you'd see a whole different company," Zaccarelli said.

Apple ( AAPL ) reported its strongest quarterly results in years during the April-June period, with double-digit growth across key segments and its forecasts were better than analysts' expectations. The company is expected to announce its fourth-quarter results on October 30.

The iPhone maker's shares trade at 33.2 times its earnings projected for the next 12 months, higher than the 27.42 for Nasdaq 100, according to data compiled by LSEG.

Apple ( AAPL ) shares have gained more than 7% this year, widely underperforming the tech-heavy Nasdaq's about 22% gain.

(Reporting by Johann M Cherian and Shashwat Chauhan in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)