Apple could be about to dethrone Nvidia as world's most valuable company

Tough reviews of Apple's ( AAPL ) new foldable Duo smartphone don't appear to be shaking the bulls on the stock.

Apple's market cap of $5.08 trillion is less than 1% shy of Nvidia's ( NVDA ) $5.12 trillion, putting it on the cusp of knocking the AI chip darling off the throne as the world's most valuable company.

Nvidia has, by and large, held the crown for more than two years.

But with investors starting to question the health of the AI trade, Nvidia's Teflon stock has come under pressure. Nvidia stock is down 7.3% over the past month, while Apple stock is up 2.5%.

Apple is seen as a more defensive play, given its hardware focus.

Thursday was an absolute bloodbath for Big Tech, with the Nasdaq Composite getting slammed down nearly 2.6% in its worst single-day beatdown since June.

AI play Meta ( META ) dropped a bombshell in its third quarter results, posting negative free cash flow for the first time since 2012 amid aggressive spending on AI.

The company said it would issue a new tranche of stock to help fuel its AI build-out.

"With roughly 375 million iPhones that have not upgraded in over 4 years, we believe the pool of buyers waiting for a reason to upgrade is deep enough to keep Duo demand high well into 2027," Yorkville Ives partner Dan Ives said in a note on Apple.

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