Apple is no longer the most valuable company in the world. With the latest quarterly reports, the first place now goes to Microsoft, which is worth 2.489 billion dollars, against the 2.410 billion of Apple.
The run-up
Apple’s stock market value surpassed Microsoft’s in 2010, when the iPhone made it the world‘s first consumer technology company. Apple is the highest-valued company in the world since mid-2020. But in 2021 alone, Microsoft’s shares rose more than 45%, driven by growing demand for cloud services, itself a direct consequence of the pandemic. . New records are expected in Redmond for the fourth quarter, although supply chain problems will still cause delays and limitations in the production of Surface computers and Xbox consoles.
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Shares of Apple have also risen this year, but only by 15%. In addition, in the last quarter the Cupertino company did not meet analysts’ expectations in two key categories: iPhones (38.9 billion dollars against 41.5 billion) and accessories such as AirPods (8.8 billion of dollars against 9.3 billion). Other segments fared better. Sales of iPad and Mac were $ 8.3 and $ 9.2 billion respectively, with a new record for computers, which Luca Maestri attributed to “strong demand for the MacBook Air M1”. Apple’s Chief Financial Officer noted that “our last five quarters for the Mac were the best five quarters ever for the category,” adding that half of shoppers during Q4 2021 first bought a Mac or an iPad.
The company’s services – including the AppStore – generated $ 18.3 billion in revenue, up 26% from analysts’ expectations of $ 17.6 billion. CEO Tim Cook said Apple now has 745 million paid subscribers to its platform, up from 700 million a quarter ago. As in the case of Microsoft, the services have grown and have proved to be a strategic choice, since they offer excellent margins and are neither dependent on production as in the case of chips, nor on transport, which in recent months has become more expensive.
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But chip supply chain problems cost Apple 6 billion in sales during the company’s fiscal fourth quarter, which missed Wall Street expectations, and Cook anticipated the impact will be even worse during the current fiscal quarter. quarter of Christmas sales. “We are doing everything we can to get more chips,” he explained. The shortages are worse at the low end, and indeed the premium sector set a new record, with $ 100 billion in the third quarter, according to Counterpoint. Also thanks to its huge purchasing power and long-term deals with chip suppliers, Apple recorded a staggering 83% growth in China, while Samsung Electronics and Xiaomi fell. Overall, globally, it gained at least 3% market share in smartphones in the third quarter, compared with a 6% drop in shipments, according to data from Counterpoint, IDC and Canalys.
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