Apple Inc.’s market capitalisation has topped the $4-trillion mark for the first time, as surging demand for its iPhone 17 models offset feard of slow progress in a global AI race.
On Tuesday, Apple’s share price rose 0.2% to an all-time high of $269.2 giving the company a market cap of $4 trillion. The stock has gained about 13% since the iPhone 17 series launched on 9 September, after struggling for most of the year due to tauncertainty around US tariff impact on China and India — its biggest manufacturing hubs.
“The iPhone accounts for over half of Apple’s 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 is the third company to achieve a market cap of $4 trillion after Nvidia Corp. and Microsoft Corp. The chipmaker is the highest valued company in the world at $4.5 trillion.
Why is Apple struggling with AI?
Apple is (in)famous for its culture of perfecting the user experience before launching anything first, but its progress is agonisingly slow by its own standards. That has fueled concerns it could lose out on the global AI race.
The company was slow to roll out Apple Intelligence, despite a collaboration with arguably the industry leader OpenAI. AI updates for its once-pioneering Siri chatbot is delayed until next year.
“The lack of a well-understood AI strategy is clearly one of the things that is an overhang for the stock,” Zaccarelli said. “If they could figure out how to incorporate AI in a way that would excite consumers and the market, you would see a whole different company.”
The iPhone maker reported its strongest quarterly results in years in April-June 2025, with double-digit growth across key segments. It’s is expected to announce its fourth-quarter results on October 30.
Apple’s share price trade at 33.2 times its earnings projected for the next 12 months, higher than the 27.42 for Nasdaq 100, according to Reuters. The stock has gained more than 7% this year, widely underperforming the NASDAQ’s about 22% gain.
