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On July 15, Apple (AAPL) shares hit a new all-time high, touching $328.73 intraday and closing at $327.50, up 4%. This strong rally pushed the company’s market capitalization to approximately $4.81 trillion, leaving it just about 4% shy of the $5 trillion mark—roughly $19 billion in additional market value, corresponding to a share price of around $340.
Fundamental Support: Double-Digit Growth and $100 Billion Buyback
The foundation for the stock’s rise lies in solid fundamentals. Apple’s fiscal second-quarter revenue reached $111.2 billion, up 17% year-over-year, with earnings per share growing 22%. Its services business set a new all-time revenue record of $31 billion. Citigroup subsequently raised its price target on Apple to $365, maintaining a Buy rating, citing the iPhone’s market share rising to 25%, continued PC share expansion, and a gross margin guidance of 48%-49%.
Additionally, Apple authorized an additional $100 billion in share repurchases in April, providing sustained buying support for the stock. Morgan Stanley also reiterated its Overweight rating and $360 price target, believing Apple’s pricing power will continue to drive earnings growth.
AI Strategy Takes Shape: China Regulatory Hurdles Cleared
Another major positive catalyst on Wednesday came from the Chinese market. The Cyberspace Administration of China announced that Apple’s “Apple Intelligence” had completed the filing for on-device AI services on July 8, covering its application scenarios for iPhones. To comply with Chinese regulatory requirements, Apple has chosen to partner deeply with Alibaba and Baidu: Alibaba’s Qwen model will be integrated into Apple Intelligence to provide Chinese users with capabilities such as text and image understanding and content generation, while Baidu will develop AI-powered search functions and localized upgrades for Siri.
This move marks the official removal of regulatory obstacles for Apple’s AI strategy in China. Unlike the path of building its own large language models, Apple has adopted a “partnership” approach—integrating OpenAI and Google Gemini overseas, while teaming up with Alibaba and Baidu in China—to gain AI capabilities at lower cost, avoiding the massive spending of tens or even hundreds of billions of dollars on model training. This “cooperate rather than build” strategy is increasingly being validated by the market.
Historical Precedent and Challenges
Nvidia became the first publicly traded company to surpass a $5 trillion market cap in October 2025, taking just 113 days to go from $4 trillion to $5 trillion. If Apple achieves this milestone, it will become only the second company in history to reach that level.
Of course, challenges remain. Apple currently trades at a price-to-earnings ratio of approximately 38-39 times, a historically high valuation that leaves the stock vulnerable if growth disappoints. The average Wall Street price target stands at just $317, already below the current market price. However, the upcoming fiscal third-quarter results, scheduled for July 30, could serve as a key catalyst to push the stock through its final 4% if they deliver continued double-digit growth.
In summary, with improving fundamentals, record services revenue, a massive buyback program, and a fully realized AI strategy, Apple is now within arm’s reach of the $5 trillion market capitalization milestone.
