APPLE bosses have started 2022 with a bang after the firm became the first to hit a stock market valuation of $3trillion (£2.22trillion).
The tech giant has gone from strength to strength despite coronavirus disruption and supply issues.
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It beats the likes of Amazon, Google, Microsoft and Tesla, who are already in the exclusive trillion dollar club.
Apple had already soared to become the first $1trillion (£740billion) company back in 2018.
On Monday, the iPhone maker briefly jumped the $3trillion mark before slipping just below again, ending the day at $2.99trillion (£2.21 trillion).
The valuation dwarfs the UK’s GDP, which stands at $2.76 trillion (£2.04trillion), according to World Bank data.
Apple’s shares have climbed an eye-watering 5,800 per cent since late co-founder Steve Jobs unveiled the first iPhone in January 2007.
Much of its fast growth has been down to the success of the smartphone, alongside other products including the iPad and Apple Watch.
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Sure enough, iOS, the operating system used on iPhone and iPad, has a market share of more than 50 per cent in the UK alone, according to Statista.
But in more recent years the firm has turned its focus onto subscription-based services, such as Spotify rival Apple Music and iCloud storage.
Under the leadership of Tim Cook, this has helped Apple reduce its reliance on the iPhone to about 52 per cent of total revenue in fiscal 2021 from over 60 per cent in 2018.
And with the iPhone 14, among other devices, set for release later this year, Apple could find itself comfortably in the $3trillion spot permanently soon enough.
Tech analyst Paolo Pescatore told The Sun: “It’s another impressive milestone after being the first US company to be valued at $2trillion around 14 months ago; two years prior having become the world’s first trillion-dollar company.
“With a strong, broad portfolio of devices and a growing services offering, there are plentiful opportunities for future growth.
“Users have shown a significant appetite to own better quality devices, connections and services.”
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In other news, NASA has slammed Russia after a missile it fired into one of its own satellites forced the space station to perform an emergency swerve.
Scientists have figured out how fast a type of dinosaur could run – and it would have given Usain Bolt a run for his money.
And Google has confirmed that some of its smartphones are unable to call emergency services due to a software bug.
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This post first appeared on Thesun.co.uk
