Apple reached a $2 trillion market capitalization before Microsoft did.
Apple became the first public company to reach $2 trillion in August 2020, while Microsoft became the second company to pass that level later. The comparison is based on market capitalization, which changes with share prices and is not a ranking of annual revenue or total assets.
Apple’s milestone came during a period when investors placed a high value on its integrated hardware-and-services ecosystem. The iPhone remained central, while the App Store, subscriptions, cloud storage, and payment products gave the company recurring revenue streams beyond device sales.
Stock splits can make historical share prices look different, but they do not by themselves change a company’s market capitalization. A split divides shares into more units and reduces the price per share proportionally, leaving the total equity value broadly unchanged at the moment of the split.