Introduction

On Friday 30th June, Apple's market capitalisation exceeded $3 trillion, reaching a level not seen since 2022 when the brand's market value peaked above $3 trillion for the first time on January 3, in intraday trading before closing the session. This surge in value reflects investors’ confidence in Apple's potential to increase its revenue, even as the company takes a risk in entering a new sector like virtual reality. Apple has become the world’s most valuable-listed company. The brand exceeded expectations with its iPhone sales in the second quarter, and the company also unveiled new products in June 2023, such as the Vision Pro, an augmented-reality headset.

Market cap

The market capitalisation, often referred to as "market cap”, is the total market value of a publicly traded company's outstanding shares and is commonly used to measure how much a company is worth. It is calculated by multiplying the total number of outstanding shares of a company's stock by the current market price per share. Market capitalisation is typically categorised into three main groups:

• Large-cap: companies with a market cap value exceeding $10 billion. These companies are often considered more established and stable, with a track record of success for example Apple.
• Mid-cap: companies with a market cap value between $2 billion and $10 billion. Mid-cap companies are usually in a phase of growth and expansion e.g Etsy, the platform to sell handmade products.
• Small-cap: Includes companies with a market cap value below $2 billion, can be considered relatively young and can offer higher growth and higher risk. For example, Roku, a leading streaming platform, that offers streaming devices for home entertainment.

Apple entering the Stock Exchange

Apple stock (AAPL) went public on December 12, 1980 at $22.00 per share. The stock has split five times since Apple's initial public offering (IPO), so on a split-adjusted basis the IPO share price was $10. Apple kicked off with a market capitalisation of $1.8 billion. At the time, it was the biggest IPO since Ford, nearly two decades before.

Due to a number of internal problems, Apple lost its ability to compete in the market between the early 1990s and mid-1997. Sales fell as a result of unattractive products, and it was said that Apple was just 90 days away from filing for bankruptcy. Microsoft "saved" the company at the time by agreeing to pay $150 million to Apple in exchange for a few privileges, such as the ability to make Internet Explorer the default browser on Macs.

In 2000, Apple's market value surpassed $5 billion. The introduction of ground-breaking products like the first beta version of Mac OS X and the iPod with iTunes, that at this time gave Apple its current brand identity. From 2003 to 2006, Apple's shares rose from $6 to $80. The jump was associated with the launch of the first model of MacBook and MacBook Pro. In 2007 Steve Jobs introduced the iPhone, Apple's concept of the smartphone. Since then, it is the tech giant's most important revenue generator, along with the Apple Store, introduced in 2008. After the successful release of the iPad in 2010, the company's worth was $269 billion, making it the third largest among public companies in the world by market cap (below PetroChina and Exxon Mobil)(Martins, 2021).

In 2015, Apple strengthened its position on the market with the launch of the Apple Watch. After a year another success came with the AirPods, adding revenue to this growing segment. Over the past 20 years, Apple's capacity to innovate has enabled the business to increase its sales by 6,430% and its net income by more than 137,800%. The company recorded astonishing revenue in 2022 of $394.3 billion. Apple's net income of $99.8 billion in 2022 increased by 5.4% as well. Company’s shares have produced a total return of almost 66,054% during the last 20 years. Therefore, assuming reinvested dividends, $10,000 in AAPL stock acquired 20 years ago would be worth around $6.62 million today.

In those 20 years, Apple has launched a number of significant products that have contributed to the stock's explosive growth, not only the famous iPhone. The company launched the iPad in 2010, the Apple Watch in 2015, and in 2018, the HomePod smart speakers. Still more to come, in June 2023 Apple introduced its newest product, a mixed reality headset called the Apple Vision Pro. According to Price Coin Forecast (2023) the latest long-term forecast, Apple's price will hit $250 by the end of 2023 and then $300 by the end of 2024 (Duggan, 2023).

A key to profitability

Market share refers to the portion (or percentage) of total sales shipped by a company in a specific market or industry, compared to its competitors. This metric can evaluate a company’s position and performance over a specific period in a particular market segment. Apple's market share refers to the percentage of total sales or units shipped that Apple captures in a specific market or industry. Because the brand operates in various markets, including smartphones, tablets, personal computers, wearables and services, we can present the company’s shares in different segments.

As of 2021, Apple's global smartphone market share was around 14%. Samsung, Huawei, Xiaomi, and other manufacturers using the Android operating system are Apple's primary rivals in the smartphone market. Samsung typically leads among all competitors with the largest market share among all smartphone manufacturers. As of June 2023, Apple's iOS mobile operating system captured 50.79% of the total market share in the United Kingdom (UK) (Statista, 2023).

Apple is the dominant player in the global smartwatch market. The most recent data as of April 2023, shows that the US phone maker Apple leads the pack, with a market share of 30.44%. This means that more than three in 10 smartphone users worldwide use an Apple phone. The Apple Watch's success is evident in the brand loyalty shown by iPhone users. This popularity is particularly prevalent among the younger generation, solidifying Apple's position as an unmatched market leader (Bankmycell, 2023).

In the second quarter of 2023, Apple shipped 5.3 million units of PCs, holding onto its fourth position (staying behind Lenovo, HP, and Dell) in the global traditional PC market. Apple outperforms with a 51% jump thanks to strong demand for its recently launched 15-inch MacBook Air. The company’s market share grew the most among the major PC makers, with its market share expanding to 11% from 6.4% a year earlier. The credit for this achievement goes to Apple's utilization of new processors based on ARM chipsets (Dazeinfo, 2023).

What about the future?

Apple is a successful company with a stable position in the tech industry. With new products coming our way such as the Vision Pro or rumors about possible Apple cars, the brand represents not only a company with a wide range of products and services, but also the lifestyle, social status and a revenue machine created by Apple's internal ecosystem. Following the company’s forecast we can easily state that Apple has a bright future ahead.