Apple Now Worth More Than $776 Billion

Apple just became the most valuable publicly traded company in history. According to a report recently published by the Wall Street Journal, the iPhone maker’s opening stock price Monday was at $149.03 per share, which results to a valuation of $776.7 billion, surpassing its previous best mark of $774.7 billion recorded in February a couple of years ago.

It bears noting that the company’s stock prices have hit record levels on more than one occasion since that February 2015 valuation. But due to the fact that Apple has a habit of repurchasing its own shares ((to date, there are 5.21 billion shares outstanding), the most recent $776.7 billion valuation basically marks the first time the stock opened at a new record best figure. 

The timing of this milestone could not have been more impeccable. Everybody knows that this year marks the tenth anniversary of the first iPhone, and many are highly anticipating the upcoming iPhone 8 in September later this year, not only because it is the newest iPhone, but also because it is sort of the culmination of the remarkable decade long history of the iPhone (so far). 

Intriguingly, Apple has sold slightly less units of its iPhone devices (50.8 million units), at least when compared to the previous year’s mark (51.2 million units). But the company has more than made up for it by registering more revenue, which can be attributed to the very solid sales of its iPhone 7 Plus phablet, which comes with a higher price.

Tim Cook, the chief executive officer of Apple, has recently expressed his thoughts on the matter. He says that persistent rumors related to the upcoming iPhone 8 are to blame for the slight decrease in iPhone sales. Because everybody is getting excited about this year’s model, prospective iPhone buyers are choosing not to spend money on a new iPhone in order to wait for the release of the iPhone 8 later this year. 

For the longest time, iPhone devices have been Apple’s most dependable generator of revenues. But lately, various industry watchers are beginning to think that iPhone are no longer the driving force they were compared to previous years. However, analysts have also started to point out how Apple’s efforts to diversify its products and services may be paying off. The latest quarterly results from the company did reveal that it had recorded $7 billion in services revenue during the first three months of this year. If this keeps improving every quarter, then Apple’s reliance on iPhone devices could lessen in the years to come.