Now it faces one of the biggest legal challenges in its history.
Apple was the first US firm to cross a $2 trillion market cap. It's an arbitrary milestone but nevertheless a significant one, testimony to the iPhone maker's pandemic-defying performance. It's also been just two years since Apple hit a market cap of $ 1 trillion, meaning the firm has essentially doubled in value in just over 24 months.
Apple isn't the world's first firm to hit the $2 trillion benchmark. The gas and oil giant with headquarters in Saudi Arabia, Saudi Aramco, did so first.
Aramco reached the $2 trillion mark briefly in December 2019 but has slipped below that amount since as its stock price wavers. On 4 August 2020, Apple surpassed it as the most profitable corporation in the world.
Shares in the company today surpassed the $467.77 threshold that gives Apple the value of $2 trillion, as reported by the Financial Times. But in the future they could well dip below that.
Apple 's shares have been on a roll for years, but in 2020 they performed especially well, rising more than 50 per cent amid the COVID-19 disarray. Every week since the beginning of June, the company's stock has risen 3.5 per cent on average, reports The Wall Street Journal.
And its share price soared sharply after its most recent earnings report in July, where the company recorded record revenues and revenue exceeding $59.7 billion — up 11 per cent from last year's same quarter.
But while revenues are booming, Apple is facing a string of regulatory headwinds with respect to the apps ecosystem that underpins its hardware. Most notable of these is the legal challenge posed by Fortnite creator Epic Games, which is currently suing Apple for kicking Fortnite off iOS after Epic attempted to circumvent Apple's payment systems.
Part of Epic 's argument (and one shared by several other firms targeting consumers via Apple's App Store) is that the 30% reduction in sales by the company is extortionate.
Along with the growing revenue from Apple 's services and its reported plans to launch various subscription bundles later this year, this shows how the future of the iPhone maker depends not only on its hardware but on the software that keeps customers loyal. Apple had the iPhone at $1 trillion. Services have got it $2 trillion, arguably. How does it hold in there?
Apple was the first US firm to cross a $2 trillion market cap. It's an arbitrary milestone but nevertheless a significant one, testimony to the iPhone maker's pandemic-defying performance. It's also been just two years since Apple hit a market cap of $ 1 trillion, meaning the firm has essentially doubled in value in just over 24 months.
Apple isn't the world's first firm to hit the $2 trillion benchmark. The gas and oil giant with headquarters in Saudi Arabia, Saudi Aramco, did so first.
Aramco reached the $2 trillion mark briefly in December 2019 but has slipped below that amount since as its stock price wavers. On 4 August 2020, Apple surpassed it as the most profitable corporation in the world.
Shares in the company today surpassed the $467.77 threshold that gives Apple the value of $2 trillion, as reported by the Financial Times. But in the future they could well dip below that.
Apple 's shares have been on a roll for years, but in 2020 they performed especially well, rising more than 50 per cent amid the COVID-19 disarray. Every week since the beginning of June, the company's stock has risen 3.5 per cent on average, reports The Wall Street Journal.
And its share price soared sharply after its most recent earnings report in July, where the company recorded record revenues and revenue exceeding $59.7 billion — up 11 per cent from last year's same quarter.
But while revenues are booming, Apple is facing a string of regulatory headwinds with respect to the apps ecosystem that underpins its hardware. Most notable of these is the legal challenge posed by Fortnite creator Epic Games, which is currently suing Apple for kicking Fortnite off iOS after Epic attempted to circumvent Apple's payment systems.
Part of Epic 's argument (and one shared by several other firms targeting consumers via Apple's App Store) is that the 30% reduction in sales by the company is extortionate.
Along with the growing revenue from Apple 's services and its reported plans to launch various subscription bundles later this year, this shows how the future of the iPhone maker depends not only on its hardware but on the software that keeps customers loyal. Apple had the iPhone at $1 trillion. Services have got it $2 trillion, arguably. How does it hold in there?