Apple has officially become the first U.S. company worth a staggering $2 trillion. The iPhone maker hit the mark after its stock price touched $467.77 on Wednesday, pushing its market cap higher than any other U.S. company in history.
Apple’s rise to the $2 trillion milestone comes after hitting $1.5 trillion in June, and two years after topping $1 trillion for the first time. Since then both Amazon and Microsoft, two other high-flying tech stocks, have crossed the $1 trillion mark and are now valued at more than $1.5 trillion.
CEO Tim Cook and company have been riding a hot hand for years on the strength of Apple’s iPhone sales. The handset, which launched in 2007 under then-CEO Steve Jobs, was transformational for the company, putting it at the forefront of the still nascent smartphone industry and never looked back.
More recently, Apple, seeing a slow decline in smartphone sales growth along with the rest of the industry, has been pushing other sectors of its business including its Services and Wearables arms.
The consumer tech giant doubled down on offerings in both areas, launching Apple Music and Apple TV+, as well as introducing the Apple Watch and the now iconic AirPods. Apple is now among the top wearables makers in the world on the strength of those two devices.
Apple’s future growth
But analysts still see more room for growth.
“Look, I think this is a monumental achievement for Apple, especially as many of the doubters thought the growth story at Cupertino was over years ago,” Wedbush analyst Dan Ives told Yahoo Finance.
“I think it all comes down to the install base. The company has an unmatched install base, which now further monetization of that through services has been the key to success.”
Apple is also set to launch its new flagship smartphone, the iPhone 12, later this fall. And while the device will be delayed beyond its normal launch window of late September due to the coronavirus pandemic, it, according to Wedbush analyst Dan Ives, is expected to spark what’s known as a sales “supercycle,” or a massive uptick in the number of people buying new iPhones.
The iPhone 12 is widely expected to be the company’s first device to include 5G cellular capabilities, which offer superior download and upload speeds compared to existing 4G LTE data connections. The switch is likely to entice iPhone owners who have been holding on to their devices for several years thanks to the promise of improved video streaming and downloading, and the wide breadth of potential the faster connection will offer.
No comments