Apple reached a historic milestone on January 3, 2022, becoming the first U.S. company to surpass a three-trillion-dollar market value. A year later, the picture had shifted dramatically: the company closed the first trading session of 2023 below two trillion, its lowest valuation since May 2021.
The iconic maker of the iPhone has also ridden a broader tech industry hangover over the past year. In 2021, Apple’s value rose about 34 percent; in 2022, it retreated roughly 30 percent. That decline reflects a mix of macro forces—surging inflation, rising interest rates, and an anticipated recession—and investor worry about how pandemic policies could affect the global supply chain, particularly in China, a key production hub.
On Tuesday, Apple finished the trading day at a valuation near $1.99 trillion. It remains the lone giant to breach the $2 trillion mark in this new era, with peers like Microsoft and Saudi Aramco drifting away from that level. Yet Apple still sits atop the ranking as the most valuable company in the world.
Apple’s latest 3.74 percent decline followed a Nikkei Asia report indicating the company may request some suppliers to scale back component production for devices such as MacBooks, AirPods, and the Apple Watch.
There is a silver lining, too. Reuters reported that Foxconn’s Zhengzhou factory, a crucial iPhone production site, has returned to near-full production after a year-end worker dispute, helping to stabilize supply lines.
Across the tech sector, Apple has shown more resilience than many rivals. Social media concerns around Meta, Google’s parent company Alphabet, Amazon, Netflix, and electric vehicle maker Tesla disrupted 2022 as large funding rounds dried up and risk appetites cooled.
In September, Apple closed its fiscal year with improvements in both revenue and net income, rising year over year by about 5.4 percent. Investors are now watching closely as Apple prepares to report results for the first quarter of its new fiscal year, a period that covers the holiday-driven sales season. Apple estimates suggest a release around late January, with market observers anticipating a modest revenue dip as earnings season unfolds, reflecting ongoing market dynamics in the Nasdaq and broader U.S. tech indices.