Apple briefly became the world's most valuable public company in January 2022 after a strong technology-stock rally.
The company crossed a market value of about $3 trillion during intraday trading, briefly moving ahead of Saudi Aramco. The ranking depended on live share prices and the number of shares counted in each company's valuation.
Apple's position was supported by the scale of its iPhone business, its growing services segment, and investor expectations for future products. Saudi Aramco remained a major competitor in global market-value rankings because of its enormous oil-production business and profitability.
Market-cap rankings can change from day to day. They should not be confused with rankings by annual sales, assets, employees, or net income, which can produce different leaders.