Apple Inc. briefly became the second publicly traded company in history to reach a market capitalisation of $5 trillion on Tuesday, July 28, 2026. Shares in the iPhone maker rose as much as 1.8% to a session high of $342.89, pushing its market value to $5.04 trillion before dipping back below the threshold. The move came one day after Apple ended trading on July 27 as the world's most valuable company, having passed Nvidia Corporation in the process.

Apple's rally has been driven by strong demand for its products as well as its decision to sit out the AI spending race that is sapping cash flows at Big Tech rivals. The company has relied on Google's technology to power new services such as a revamped Siri, avoiding the hefty AI infrastructure costs being absorbed elsewhere across the sector. Apple's capital expenditures totalled $12.7 billion in fiscal 2025, a figure that contrasts sharply with Alphabet's planned spend of $205 billion this year, and Microsoft and Amazon having bumped their annual spending plans to as much as $190 billion and $145 billion respectively.

Apple stock is up roughly 24% year to date and nearly 60% over the past 12 months, driven by strong iPhone sales. By comparison, Nvidia shares were down 1.4% on Tuesday and have risen just 2.6% year to date. Apple's advance on Tuesday was accompanied by investors fleeing AI and semiconductor stocks amid a wider tech sell-off. By market value, Apple now ranks ahead of Nvidia at approximately $4.7 trillion, Alphabet at $3.9 trillion, and Microsoft at $2.9 trillion.

Nvidia had held the top spot as the world's most valuable company since June 2025, when it took the crown from Microsoft, and was also the first company ever to breach the $5 trillion threshold. Apple reached the $4 trillion milestone for the first time on October 28, 2025, becoming the third company to reach that level after Nvidia and Microsoft. The Cupertino-based company first surpassed Exxon as the world's most valuable company in 2011 and held the top market-capitalisation spot for most of the previous decade, periodically trading places with Microsoft. Apple is scheduled to report fiscal third-quarter results on July 30, 2026.

Sources: Bloomberg, The Guardian, CNBC, Reuters, Forbes, Yahoo Finance, 9to5Mac