Apple retakes $5 trillion market cap, only second company to eclipse milestone number

Apple's ( AAPL ) market capitalization once again crossed the $5 trillion mark on Wednesday, just months after it first touched the threshold in late July.

It's been just under a year since Apple's market cap topped $4 trillion in October 2025. The company's stock price is up roughly 26% year to date and nearly 40% over the past 12 months.

Apple stock climbed more than 1% Wednesday.

The milestone comes a little more than a month after John Ternus took over as Apple CEO from Tim Cook , who stepped down on Sept. 1, a day after Apple debuted its HomeView smart home hub amid a renewed effort to grab share in the smart home market.

Amazon ( AMZN ) and Google ( GOOG , GOOGL ) currently dominate that space .

Apple has also benefited from strong iPhone sales throughout 2026 on the back of a renewed upgrade cycle.

The company has also finally fleshed out its AI strategy after investors heavily criticized the iPhone maker for initially falling behind in the AI race and struggling to catch up.

Apple unveiled its Apple Intelligence platform at its WWDC event in 2024, but the company delayed a number of features, leaving Wall Street to question Apple's ability to compete with rivals, including Google and Microsoft ( MSFT ).

But the company has since won a reprieve.

It has partnered with Google to use some of the search giant's AI models and rolled out a number of major updates to Apple Intelligence, including its Siri AI, though the software is still in beta.

And then there's the iPhone Duo foldable, which, at $1,999, could boost the iPhone line's average selling price and the company's bottom line. Apple is also preparing to launch its first touch-screen MacBook and revamped iPads later this month, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman .

But Apple is also working to contend with the ongoing memory and storage shortage, which has forced it to raise prices on its iPhones, iPads, and Macs, driving fears that sales could take a hit.

Email Daniel Howley at dhowley@yahoofinance.com. Follow him on Twitter at @DanielHowley .