In 2010, with the strong performance of iPhone in the market, Apple's market value surpassed Microsoft, the former market overlord, for the first time, successfully ranked first in the market value of listed companies in the world. Since then, Apple's market value has been ranked first in the world for many years, becoming an important weather vane for the development of the technology industry.
Beijing time on January 4, 2022, Apple's market value hit a new record high, with its stock price rising by nearly 3% during the session, and its market value briefly exceeded US$3 trillion (and then fell back to US$2.99 trillion), symbolically becoming the first listed company with a market value of more than US$3 trillion. What is the concept of 3 trillion US dollars? It is about 5 Tencents, and it is 7.43 times the market value of Moutai, the "top" in China's A-share market.
Although the rise in Apple's market value is suspected of "Feder currency release" and there is a certain bubble, Apple's market value has widened the gap with Microsoft and Alphabet (Google parent company). Even Facebook, which has radically changed its name to Meta, embraces the meta-universe, has a market value of less than trillion US dollars, indicating that among the major technology giants in the United States, investors are more optimistic about Apple's future development.
Apple's market value has exceeded US$3 trillion
In recent years, Apple's market value has been rising rapidly. At multiple nodes where the "trillion dollar market value" breakouts, there are basically historical marks left by Apple. What is easier to ignore is that at the product update level, although many users complain about Apple's lack of innovation and product update squeezing toothpaste, several major nodes in Apple's market value have corresponding innovative technologies and products leading the industry, that is, Apple's "arrogance" is based on innovation.
When Apple's market value surpassed Microsoft in 2010, it was the year when iPhone 4 and iPad led the market. Smartphones and tablets were redefined by Apple, promoting the arrival of the mobile Internet era. When Apple's market value exceeded the $1 trillion mark for the first time in 2018, it was the year that shocked the market after the release of the iPhone X. Apple finally bid farewell to the doll-style upgrades from iPhone 6 to iPhone 8, and used Face ID and full-screen gestures to innovate to "educate" users and the market. Then the breakthrough of the $2 trillion market value was stuck at the key points of the epidemic and the release of M1 chips.
It can be seen that the rise in Apple's market value is closely related to its technological innovation. Every node with an increase in market value has corresponding new products or new technologies. However, compared with previous innovations, many voices in the market pointed out that Apple's $3 trillion market value breakthrough is related to the impressive market performance of the iPhone 13 series and AirPods 3, which promotes the overall growth of the company's performance.
In the catering industry, the key to whether a new brand can obtain investment and high valuation is one of the indicators of standardization, that is, emphasizing that the concept of central kitchen does not rely on chefs to improve the replicability of the store. In the technology industry, an important indicator of market value improvement is technology. Microsoft, Nvidia and Intel, which have the highest market value in the Windows computer industry, and Apple and Samsung, each of them has its own strengths in the industry. It can be said that the market value of every technology company with market leadership will not be low, and the ability of technological innovation is an important cornerstone of the increase in the market value of a technology company.
On the other hand, Apple's main businesses have achieved rapid growth this year, directly igniting the engine of market value growth. According to Apple's third and fourth quarter financial reports for fiscal year 2021, revenue increased by 36.44% and 29% year-on-year. The revenue of iPhone, iPad, Mac and wearable businesses grew across the board, among which the iPhone business performed the strongest, with a year-on-year increase of 49.8% and 47% respectively. The slowdown in the fourth quarter was mainly due to the shortage of supply chain components, and the delivery date of iPhone 13 Pro/Pro Max was forced to be extended.
Personally believe that the rapid growth of Apple's market value is the result of the joint explosion of "long-term and short-term". On the long-term end, the release of M1 Pro/Max highlights Apple's ambition to close the loop of ecosystems, proving its technical strength to the market and investors. In the short term, it mainly focuses on the market feedback after the iPhone 13 increases volume and price reduction and the Pro series adds a 120Hz variable refresh rate, which has increased the interest of old users in changing phones.Secondly, the further growth of Apple's market value is also related to the "unexpected link" of the market. After Huawei faded out of the smartphone market, the iPhone ushered in its second spring in the Chinese mobile phone market.
iPhone once again won the sales championship in China's mobile phone market
Due to the chip foundry problem, Huawei began to adjust its operating ideas in the first half of 2020. After the release of the Mate 40 series in the fourth quarter of 2020, the smartphone business began to shrink. Models equipped with Kirin 9000 chips adopted a limited supply strategy to extend the market vitality and popularity of Kirin models as much as possible.
With chip inventory tightening, according to IDC data, Huawei can still compete with Apple in the high-end phone market in the first half of 2020. , but after the Kirin 9000 inventory gradually bottomed out in the second half of 2021, Apple completely entered a "no rival state" in China's mid-to-high-end mobile phone market. is reflected in the financial report. As shown in the above-mentioned iPhone revenue growth rate, the iPhone has since become like a wild horse in the Chinese mobile phone market, competing for more market share.
In addition to Huawei, from the current market perspective, other domestic mobile phone brands have not yet been able to win back Huawei's original market share, and the performance of iPhone in the Chinese market has increased the capital market's expectations for Apple. According to data from market research firm Counterpoint Research, Apple has won the sales champion in the Chinese mobile phone market for two consecutive months (October and November last year), with the market share of 11 markets reaching 23.6% . iPhone is a high-priced product, and iPhone sales have been popular for two consecutive months, indicating that domestic users have a strong demand for high-end phones, but there are not many high-end domestic models that can directly compete with iPhones, and consumers have chosen iPhones very realistically.
Referring to Tesla's development history, you will know that the Chinese market with more than one billion users is the market value multiplier for many companies. With the completion of Tesla's Shanghai Super Factory, Tesla's stock price has also begun to soar, which not only expands Tesla's future market space, but also solves the most difficult production capacity problem to a certain extent.
Similar things also happened to Apple. Apple's fourth-quarter financial report for fiscal year 2021 showed that of the total revenue of US$83.36 billion in the quarter, Greater China's revenue was US$14.563 billion, an increase of 83% compared with US$7.946 billion in the same period in 2020. Excellent market performance and lack of major competitors have raised the market's expectations for the future development of iPhone. You should know that the last time iPhone won the Chinese mobile phone sales championship was in 2015. At that time, Huawei had not yet captured the high-end mobile phone market, Xiaomi was still exploring offline sales channels, and OPPO and vivo had not yet made efforts in the online mobile phone market.
2020 and 2021 are two years of change. On the one hand, the arrival of the epidemic has affected the development of some industries, and the discipline-based education and training and community group buying industries have taken advantage of the situation. However, the pathological expansion speed ignores the objective needs of users and the market, and is eventually subject to regulatory rectification; on the other hand, the domestic smartphone market, which had originally been stable, ushered in a reshuffle period, and the high-end mobile phone market has changed from a two-strong competition to the current "unipolar" pattern, and Apple has become the biggest beneficiary of this change.
Apple needs Cook
Since Cook replaced Jobs as Apple's new CEO in 2011, Apple's market value has gradually begun to rise rapidly. It can be expected that under the multi-scenario application of 5G technology and the market wave of the metaverse, $3 trillion will not be the end of Apple's market value, but a new starting point.
Apple in the Cook era is proud of the capital market, and iPhone sales are also steadily increasing. However, for some old Apple fans, Apple's innovation in the Cook era is weak, and many products are becoming more and more mediocre. In fact, 2011 was a critical year for Apple's development. After that, Apple gradually catered to users, making the iPhone, which was originally a bit "high and cold" more friendly.
From a business perspective only, Cook is undoubtedly successful, leading Apple to set new records again and again. You can say that the current Apple products lack the flavor of the Jobs era, but in the history of Apple's development, a role like Cook is needed to promote Apple products to develop towards diversified and popularization, reduce the cost of users to obtain various Apple products, expand the platform's software and hardware ecosystem as much as possible, and attract more users to the Apple ecosystem.
3 trillion market value proves Cook's value. Commercial success gives Apple more resources to develop new technologies, but whether Apple can continue to lead the development of the industry in the future still needs to regain the innovative spirit of the Jobs era. Nokia's past is the best example. The emergence of new technologies and new trends may quickly ignite the market. Players who are not able to turn around will only disappear into the market torrent. Innovation ability has always been the key to the development of a technology company. Only those technology companies that dare to "ask" and "define problems" can lead the development of the industry.
