Apple owns the iPhone and became the first publicly traded U.S. company to reach a $1 trillion market capitalization.
Apple reached the milestone in August 2018 as its shares rose after strong financial results and guidance. The calculation used the company’s share price multiplied by its number of shares outstanding. Apple was the first U.S. company to cross that level on a closing-market basis.
The iPhone, introduced in 2007, combined a mobile phone, internet communicator, and iPod-style media player in one touchscreen device. It became the foundation of Apple’s hardware ecosystem and encouraged sales of accessories, services, and other devices.
Apple’s $1 trillion milestone is often mixed up with similar milestones reached later by other companies. It is also important to distinguish a market-cap threshold from a company’s annual revenue or cash holdings. Share splits can change the quoted share price without changing the company’s total market value.