Apple retook the world's most valuable company title on Monday, and a $1 billion artificial intelligence deal with Google now underpins its case for the fall.
Key Points:
- Apple's market value reached about $4.94 trillion on Monday, ahead of Nvidia's $4.83 trillion.
- Apple pays Google roughly $1 billion a year for a custom Gemini model that runs Siri.
- The rebuilt assistant ships with iOS 27 in September, alongside the iPhone 18 Pro and a first foldable.
Apple Market Cap Passes Nvidia
Apple shares rose more than 1% on Monday, lifting its market value to roughly $4.94 trillion and pushing Nvidia into second place at about $4.83 trillion. The stock has climbed more than 22% this year, easily the best showing among the Magnificent Seven group of megacap technology names. Nvidia has added roughly 7% over the same stretch.
Nvidia had held the top spot since June 2025, when it passed Microsoft, and in October it became the first company to cross a $5 trillion market capitalization, a level Apple has yet to reach.
Investors have rewarded Apple's restraint on artificial intelligence spending. Its capital expenditures have fallen over the past three quarters, while Microsoft, Amazon and Meta are all expected to signal further commitments when they report results this week.
Apple reports its own quarterly numbers after the close on Thursday.
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Google Gemini Deal Powers Siri
Apple selected Google's models in January to rebuild Siri, and it pays about $1 billion a year for a custom version of Gemini reported at 1.2 trillion parameters. That model runs roughly eight times larger than the system behind Apple Intelligence today, and heavier requests move to Apple's own servers rather than Google's.
Jay Woods, chief market strategist at Freedom Capital Markets, said the long-running criticism of Apple's modest AI budget has turned into an advantage as rivals absorb the cost of the data center buildout. HSBC upgraded the stock to buy this month, pointing to the new AI features and a product pipeline it called unusually strong.
The rebuilt Siri ships with iOS 27 in September, free with the update.
iPhone 18 Launch Splits Seasons
Apple will split the iPhone 18 launch across two seasons for the first time, and the foldable model, which some leaks call the iPhone Ultra, is expected to start above $2,000.
The iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max arrive in September alongside that foldable, while the standard iPhone 18 and the cheaper 18e wait until spring 2027.
The software has slipped before. Apple previewed a personalized Siri in 2024, delayed it through 2025, and then pushed the first Gemini-backed features from a March release into May, months later than planned. Tim Cook hands the chief executive role to John Ternus on Sept. 1, so the September launch becomes the first major product test under new leadership.
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