Microsoft overtook Apple as the world’s most valuable company on Thursday after Apple’s shares made a weak start to 2024 due to concerns from some analysts over iPhone demand.
Shares of Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft were last up 1.6%, giving it a market valuation of $2.875 trillion as its early lead in the race to make money from generative artificial intelligence helped draw investors.
Apple was 0.9% lower with a market capitalization of $2.871 trillion – the first time since 2021 that its valuation has fallen below that of Microsoft.
The Cupertino, California-based company’s stock has slid 3.3% in January as of last close, compared with a 1.8% rise in Microsoft.
“It was inevitable that Microsoft would overtake Apple since Microsoft is growing faster and has more to benefit from the generative AI revolution,” said D.A. Davidson analyst Gil Luria…
Microsoft has briefly taken the lead over Apple as the most valuable company a handful of times since 2018, most recently in 2021 when concerns about COVID-driven supply chain shortages hit the iPhone maker’s stock price.
MacDailyNews Take: Apple is clearly behind in AI, especially generative AI, and is currently scrambling to catch up. The stock deserves some punishment for that alone.
See also:
• Gene Munster: Apple stock likely to get a boost when ‘good enough’ generative AI arrives later this year – January 9, 2024
• Apple caught flat-footed on generative AI; company preps AI features for devices, software – October 23, 2023
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Credit to MSFT on turning everything they make into a subscription, but let’s keep it real: these companies don’t really compete in any way, other than generally Mac vs Windows.
MSFT makes money from Enterprise and Apple is a consumer company.
Exactly. The main reason I finally invested in MS after Balmer left. Hard to imagine a more inept CEO.
Thanks, Tim Cook. I know Steve ‘hand picked’ him, but he could not have been worse for this company. Going with a new Google Glass probably doesn’t help, either (another product nobody asked for, just as no one asks for the six month incremental and ridiculous changes they make to the fundamental functionality of their software. Seriously: fire all of the software engineers. Apple is mirroring 90s era Microsoft waaay too much with their disconnect between possibly on the spectrum engineers and users), MS isn’t making glasses. Scully, anyone? Scully?
Disney has proven no company is too big to eat crow, and I fear Apple is on this path. I don’t know what the heck modern Apple even is, and ten years ago that was not even a consideration. Again, I now just throw the stickers into the bin. This is not the technology I used to stand up for; even their privacy policies are sketchy in the long game, I have given up on them. And yet, somehow, they are still the better alternative. Says a whole lot about modern tech. What a mess.
Although my investments in AAPL over the past 13 years made somewhat less than MSFT over the same period (sad but true) I don’t regret it. It has been fun to follow the company over that period in a way that I wouldn’t have if I wasn’t a shareholder. What I see from Microsoft has mostly been dreary and depressing (with lone exceptions like the Surface Duo, which they promptly abandoned).
As for current-day Apple, I think the Vision Pro is going to be just fine. I met Sergey Brin when he was wearing Google Glass back in 2013 at the Stanford Coffee House on campus and the AVP is a totally different animal. It’s not going to swing their share price dramatically this year, but it will establish their dominance in this market.
I’m more concerned about Apple’s slacking on AI. Siri has hardly improved since 2011 (probably more than we give it credit for but still meager). If they were sitting on all kinds of generational leaps in improvement they wouldn’t have held back for so long. What we’ll see at WWDC is going to be the result of Apple’s late-night cram sessions since ChatGPT was released.
Although Apple under Jobs was not perfect it was special. We underestimate how rare that kind of culture and dynamic is. Tesla is one of the few (maybe the only?) modern example. Once in a generation companies and leaders. You can’t just recreate that, ESPECIALLY when the overarching culture and society changes.
If Jobs came back from the dead he wouldn’t be a fit at Apple anymore and the current management wouldn’t want him there (I doubt Steve dealt with many millennials in a professional setting). Imagine George Washington returning to DC in 2024. He’d be hated and despised by most politicians there, while he’d be inclined to shoot and hang everyone and start over.
“if Jobs came back from the dead he wouldn’t be a fit at Apple anymore and the current management wouldn’t want him there (I doubt Steve dealt with many millennials in a professional setting).”
So you are saying the Cook adoption and Apple promotion of woke liberal politics present day against his business creed and advice, Jobs would not be able to handle? Get real, Nick.
A manager that sticks to reality in the mold of creative genius Steve Jobs LOOKING FORWARD will right the ship and banish misguided ideology from their business. But that hypothetical is neither here nor there.
Vision Pro will have modest success, but nothing like the iPhone revolution. Don’t know anyone clamoring for such a high priced toy…
Jobs was a leftist himself, albeit a more pragmatic one. The idea that he would “banish misguided ideology” from Apple when it’s literally the CULTURE of Silicon Valley is fantasy. He wouldn’t have pushed it like Cook but politically and morally he was no role model.
As for Vision Pro it all depends on how many units they pump out and whether that will create a critical mass for developer interest. I was shocked that only 60-80k units are said to be ready for launch. Hopefully they can ramp it up to 1 million sales by Christmas.
The hardware and Apple experience will be top notch and I don’t doubt the wow factor will be there for anyone who tries it. The question is whether at $3499 it’s a massive life-enhancer or just a really cool luxury toy. And compared to luxury toys it’s cheap.
“Jobs was a leftist himself, albeit a more pragmatic one. The idea that he would “banish misguided ideology” from Apple when it’s literally the CULTURE of Silicon Valley is fantasy.”
Yes, @Nick Jobs was a Leftist and you never would know it exactly how it should be keep politics out of business. That’s exactly what Jobs would NEVER allow Cook to do if he were alive now. Not coming back from the grave, ifs and buts opinions are ridiculous and a waste of time.
Whatever amount of units of the high priced fake reality face mask Apple sells I could not care less…
Words have meaning. Microsoft valuable?
going forward the market cap gap will increase. Microsoft’s investment in open a.i. was brilliant and allowed them to integrate usable AI into almost all their software and services. Meanwhile Apple is wondering in the AI dark.
China will ultimate betray Apple as smart phones become “good enough” and more and more Chinese consumers choose “home team” Huawei over the Apple iPhone. Apple’s (lack of vision and leadership) chickens are coming home to roost. Sure apple will make an insanely great profit for decades to come but their days of “think different” and innovated leadership are over. Just look at the majority of stories on MDN website. The majority of Apple News is related to Apple Plus streaming content. Clearly Tim’s obsession to be culturally relevant. Only problem is Streaming content doesn’t pay the bills and all the content, money and energy apple is investing in will be largely worthless compared to the AI revolution.
“In the last week of December, Apple’s iPhone sales in China were down 30% from a year earlier, according to estimates from Jefferies analysts. The analysts said that decline could lead to a double-digit decline in sales for 2024.”
This is deadly for apple’s chance of growth going forward. AAPL needs to change course quickly. Now that the era of iPhone is fading to the background, does Tim have the vision to lead/return apple to greatness? Or will they slowly fade to a boring predictable company reliant on yesteryears hits focused on social justice and slave labor contractors to prop up their lack innovation and leadership. Hopefully Im wrong.