- [Narrator] This August, Apple became

the most valuable publicly traded company in the world.

Overtaking Aramco as its market cap soared past $2 trillion

for the first time ever.

- And that is a $2 trillion milestone.

- Shares of the company increased

nearly 60% this year.

I mean, it really is history.

- [Narrator] But the company's road to $2 trillion,

hasn't been a straight climb.

After founder, Steve Jobs passed away in 2011,

many investors doubted that his successor, Tim Cook

could fill his shoes and propel the company forward.

- Really a trillion dollar market cap

wasn't part of the discussion back then.

It was much more about whether Tim Cook

could even sustain the level of success that they'd had.

- [Narrator] But amidst lawsuits, regulatory investigations,

and an ongoing trade war, Apple's shares have surged.

This is how Apple became

the most valuable publicly traded company in the world.

- Introducing Apple II, the easy to operate home computer.

- [Narrator] Apple first launched its Apple II

home computer in 1977,

revolutionizing the industry in the world.

But to follow its rise to the very top,

a good place to start is August, 2018.

When Apple reached its $1 trillion market cap,

for the first time ever

surpassing other tech giants by billions of dollars.

- Apple is now as valuable

as the four biggest US banks combined.

And if you'd put $10, 000 in Apple in 1980

today, you'd be a millionaire.

- [Narrator] The company was coming off

one of its strongest years since the death of Steve Jobs.

- Apple had had some stumbles up through 2016

and there were doubts about Tim Cook's leadership

and the company's products prospects

in the China market.

Things started to stabilize really

later that year and in 2017

and by 2018, I think people had a sense that

the company was really clicking again.

The iPhone 10 had come out

and you saw the stock just continued

to rise and rise and rise

and then in the middle of the 2018,

it kind of shot out to get over the milestone.

- [Narrator] In July, 2018, the company reported

its best third quarter ever.

Its flagship iPhones remained widely popular

and sales from the app store and other services

had hit all time highs,

but this wasn't going to last.

About a month later,

Apple released a new suite of iPhones,

which included it's most expensive model yet.

(audience applauds)

- This is iPhone 10S.

It is the most advanced we've ever created.

- They were riding high in 2018,

going into the launch of the new phones later that year,

they were sounding very confident

that those phones would succeed.

- [Narrator] But things didn't go as expected.

In January, 2019,

Apple announced it had missed

its expectation for iPhone sales.

This had a lot to do with the ongoing trade war

between the US and China.

- The Chinese economy was suffering

and purchases of iPhones in China fell sharply.

The higher price phone,

I think people felt underwhelmed by the new features

and questioned whether it was worth spending that much.

- [Narrator] In response, the company slashed

it's quarterly revenue forecast

for the first time in over 15 years.

Since its peak, the company lost

more than $400 billion in market value.

2018 turned out to be Apple's worst yearly stock performance

since the financial crisis.

And for some skeptics this fall from grace

seemed to confirm their doubts that Tim Cook

would successfully lead the company.

Then in March, 2019,

Cook move to dramatically expand his strategy,

the company started in 2017.

- Today, we're excited to extend our services even further,

making them even more entertaining,

more useful and more informative.

- [Narrator] During a special event

in Cupertino, California,

the company announced the Apple credit card, Apple TV plus,

and a number of new finance gaming and new services.

- This was something that had already been set

in motion before and that Tim Cook

had really been hammering on for a couple of years

at that point.

And it was really part of an effort to transform the company

from being focused on gadgets,

to being focused on gadgets and the services

that attach themselves to those gadgets.

- [Narrator] Amid press around the event,

Apple stock price continued to rise.

The company's big bet on services

was starting to pay off.

- In the spring of 2019,

the US China trade war was gathering momentum.

Donald Trump was threatening and imposing new tariffs

and there was a great concern for Apple

that its iPhones and other gadgets

could get more expensive for US consumers

as a consequence of this.

- [Narrator] For years, Trump has pressured Apple

to move more of its production to the US.

- And that was something that really wasn't feasible

on a mass scale for Apple.

In fact, around this time,

they were planning to shift manufacturing

of the one product

that they were still making in the US over to China

and that was their highest end Mac desktop computer.

Cook was able to largely navigate around the tariffs

and avoid having much damage to Apple as a consequence.

- [Narrator] With key products, such as iPhones

exempted from sanctions,

Apple stock continue to gain momentum.

But amid a surge of growth,

Apple's new focus on services brought scrutiny

from federal regulators.

In the US the company faced antitrust probes

related to its app store

where many of the services are based.

But this didn't seem to faze investors.

Over the course of the year.

Apple has bought back around $80 billion

worth of its own shares, further juicing the stock price.

And by January 3rd, the company's share price

had more than doubled from the year before.

Apple's future looked promising

and then this happened.

- [Reporter] Chinese authorities

have traced a new deadly virus

back to this seafood market in the city of Wuhan.

- The coronavirus has spread to countries across the world.

- So via border restrictions

and global share market free falls,

attesting our politics, economies and society.

- [Narrator] As the coronavirus pandemic

spread across the world,

Apple's manufacturing hubs in China

were hit, especially hard.

- Like most companies, Apples start

knows that have been in February of this year,

the coronavirus was scaring investors

and Apple was probably more exposed to it

than most companies because it had emanated from China.

Apple's contract manufacturers in China

had to close their factories for a time

as they dealt with the coronavirus impact.

- [Narrator] But Apple stock quickly bounced back.

In the U S the federal reserve enacted

a colossal stimulus plan to pump cash into the economy,

lifting the markets, including stocks like Apple,

and as people's lives changed,

technology became even more essential.

- How is this whole working from home thing going for you?

- During the pandemic period, people were at home

had to work and their children had to use computers

or tablets to be able to go to school.

People didn't have any other entertainment

other than what they could do at home.

So they were watching more TV programming

and streaming music and downloading apps.

All of that benefited Apple.

- [Narrator] On July 30th, Apple released an earnings report

that highlighted an 11% increase in revenue.

In April, we expected year over year performance to worsen,

but we saw better than expected demand in may and June.

We attribute this increase in demand

to several interactive causes,

including a strong iPhone SE launch,

continued economic stimulus.

- [Narrator] Following the news,

Apple shares continued to balloon

and on August 19th,

the company reached a $2 trillion market cap

for the first time ever

becoming the most valuable publicly traded company

in the world.

- At this point,

few people would bet against Apple's ability

to execute, but at the same time,

there's no guarantee

that the stock is gonna keep going up the way it has.

Apple faces a number of significant challenges

on the regulatory front,

it's a subject of antitrust investigations

in the US and Europe,

it's also at war with a number of companies

that are criticizing it over its business practices

in the app store and elsewhere.

And it's more exposed than probably

any other American company to the US China trade Wars.

- [Narrator] In the midst of a volatile market,

Apple shares continue to see big swings.

(soft music)