Amazon revealed a sharp slowdown in growth and warned it faces billions of dollars of extra costs as the world’s largest online retailer was hammered by the chaos gripping global supply chains.

Sales rose by 15 per cent in the third quarter of the year to $US111 billion ($147 billion), the company said - a significant decline from the 27 per cent growth in the previous three months and smallest increase since 2014. Profits fell from $US6.3 billion to $US3.2 billion, the first drop for more than a year.

Amazon warned growth will slow steeply again in the crucial Christmas period and raised the prospect of its first quarterly loss since 2015.

It came as Apple also disappointed investors by missing sales forecasts as it deals with a backlog of orders.

The shares fell in late trading, meaning that Apple is poised to be replaced by Microsoft as the world’s biggest company.

Andy Jassy, the new chief executive of Amazon, said the business is facing “several billion dollars of additional costs” due to a cocktail of problems in its supply chain and surging inflation.

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He said a tight labour market, higher wages, supply chain disruptions and increased shipping fees would all hit profits in the coming months, but pledged to limit the impact on consumers. Mr Jassy said: “It’ll be expensive for us in the short term, but it’s the right prioritisation for our customers and partners.”

Amazon predicted that growth would slow again in the coming months, with revenues climbing by as little as 4 per cent in the crucial Christmas quarter in what would be its weakest figure on record.