Apple reached a $1 trillion market capitalization in August 2018, becoming the first publicly traded U.S. company to achieve that valuation.
Apple crossed the threshold on August 2, 2018, when its stock price rose during Nasdaq trading. The company’s market value was supported by its large installed base of iPhones, strong services growth, and investor confidence in its premium consumer-electronics business.
The milestone is about market capitalization rather than cash, annual sales, or accounting profit. It represents the market value of all outstanding Apple shares at that moment. Because share prices move continuously, the exact valuation can rise or fall after the milestone without changing the historical record.
Apple’s route to the trillion-dollar mark began with the Macintosh, expanded through the iPod and iPhone, and later broadened into services such as the App Store, Apple Music, and iCloud. Amazon followed Apple across the threshold about a month later. The two milestones are therefore close in time but belong to separate companies.