Microsoft Overtakes Apple as the World’s Most Valuable Company

Microsoft overtook Apple to become the world’s most valuable company on Friday. Apple shares dropped dramatically yesterday after their earnings report fell short of expectations, causing Microsoft to become the leading company in the world in terms of valuation.

Shares of Apple dropped roughly 4% on Friday down to 147.10 per share, making the company’s market capitalization $2.43 trillion. Miicrosoft’s shares rose 0.9% to 327.30 per share, making their market capitalization $2.45 trillion– just a hair above Apple, who previously heldthe leading spot for an entire year.

Apple was the first company in history to surpass $1 trillion in market capitalization, a landmark it reached over the last three years. But the company has been wracked with difficulties this quarter due to supply chain shortages, which have massively delayed the production of the new iPhone 13.

Apple missed analyst’s expectations for Q4, reporting 83.36 billion in revenue.

“This year we launched our most powerful products ever, from M1-powered Macs to an iPhone 13 lineup that is setting a new standard for performance and empowering our customers to create and connect in new ways,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “We are infusing our values into everything we make — moving closer to our 2030 goal of being carbon neutral up and down our supply chain and across the lifecycle of our products, and ever advancing our mission to build a more equitable future.”

Microsoft recently debuted its latest operating system, Windows 11, earlier this month.

How chip shortages helped Microsoft get a step ahead of Apple

The company was projected to manufacture 90 million new iPhones before the end of 2021, but Bloomberg has reported that the company believes that that number may be lowered by as much as 10 million.

Apple is one of the most powerful chip buyers on the planet and dictates the order of the global electronics supply chain. Despite their looming presence, the company is still falling prey to the supply chain issues that have dramatically impacted industries worldwide. Chipmakers have issued stark warnings that supply will not be able to meet the demand for chips into 2022, and possibly after that.

Apple sources the pieces of its phones from Texas Instruments and Broadcom. A TI chip that is currently scarce is used for powering the OLED display of the new iPhone. Apple is also dealing with shortages from different suppliers as well.

Customers have suspected something was afoot after Apple’s shipping times for the new phone became delayed. The iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max were released in September, but orders were not fulfilled for at least a month after. The new models are often marked as “currently unavailable” at many Apple stores across the country.