Apple reached a market capitalization of $1 trillion on August 2, 2018, becoming the first publicly traded U.S. company to achieve that valuation.
The milestone followed years of rapid growth in the iPhone business, supported by services such as the App Store, Apple Music, and iCloud. Apple’s share price rose above the level required for its roughly 4.83 billion outstanding shares to equal $1 trillion.
Market capitalization is calculated by multiplying a company’s share price by its shares outstanding. It is different from revenue, profit, or cash reserves. A company’s market cap can therefore change every trading day even when its operations have not changed.
Apple later passed $2 trillion in 2020 and $3 trillion in 2022. These milestones are sometimes confused with the value of all companies listed on an exchange, but they refer specifically to Apple’s equity value.