Microsoft Nears Apple In Market Capitalization

Update Monday 11/26 @ 1:30PM ET: For a brief few minutes today, Microsoft officially passed Apple to become the most valuable company in the United States. As reported by Bloomberg, Apple’s market capitalization fell to $812.60 billion, while Microsoft’s continued increasing to $812.93 billion. The numbers continue to fluctuate, and it remains to be seen who will be on top at the end of trading today.

Update Sunday 11/25 @ 10:45AM ET: Due to changes in outstanding share counts, Apple still leads Microsoft by $26 billion. This means Microsoft did not pass Apple in market cap as we reported, and others continue to report. Apple’s market cap is $817.6 billion, compared to Microsoft’s $791 billion.

AAPL has fallen dramatically over the last month due in large part to fears of slowing iPhone sales and weak demand for the iPhone XR. Earlier this week, it was reported that Apple is lowering iPhone XR prices in Japan and restarting some iPhone X production in certain markets.

Additionally this week, a separate report suggested that Apple has cut production orders for the iPhone XS and iPhone XR. Apple suppliers have also offered weaker-than-expected guidance recently, with many citing slowing business from Apple as the reason.

During its most recent earnings call, Apple also announced that it would stop reporting unit sales data for its hardware products, including the iPhone. CFO Luca Maestri explained that this change is due to unit sales no longer being the best indicator of Apple’s business, but it’s a change that has worried some investors.