Apple first exceeded a $1 trillion market capitalization during trading on August 2, 2018.
The milestone followed a strong earnings report and investor confidence in Apple’s high-margin iPhone business, growing services revenue, and large installed customer base. Market capitalization measures the value investors assign to a company’s outstanding shares, rather than the amount of money held in its bank accounts.
Apple was the first publicly traded U.S. company to pass $1 trillion. Saudi Aramco later became a major non-U.S. company associated with the same milestone after its 2019 initial public offering, while Amazon and Microsoft also crossed $1 trillion soon afterward.
The milestone is often confused with Apple’s later $2 trillion and $3 trillion records. Those were separate achievements reached in August 2020 and January 2022, respectively.