Microsoft overtakes Apple and becomes (briefly) the richest company in the world

© Unsplash/Ed Hardie

This is a first since 2021: the capitalization of the Redmond firm has once again surpassed that of Apple. On Thursday, January 11, 2024, in the morning, Microsoft's capitalization reached $2,888 billion compared to $2,887 billion at the same time for Apple.< /p>

Since then, the positions have been reversed again: Microsoft enjoyed a capitalization of around $2,860 billion at the time of writing, compared to around $2,890 billion. dollars at Apple. However, as several analysts note, the “barraka” is currently rather on the side of Microsoft.

Why the dynamic is rather on the side of Microsoft

The The firm continues to benefit from the strategic choices driven by Satya Nadella, particularly in terms of artificial intelligence. In 2023, the firm thus enjoyed a performance up 57% – largely linked to its partnership with OpenAI, and the deployment of products like Bing Chat and Copilot (which even has a new key on the keyboards).

On the other hand, without really worrying, Apple's forecast seems more uncertain. The firm still largely depends on the performance of its iPhone sales – with China in its sights in which Apple is facing a drop in demand, against a backdrop of increased competition with local players like Huawei and a drop in demand in this major market.

In addition to this, as reported by our colleagues at Challenges, an additional risk, legal this time, weighs on the Cupertino company: the American regulator is indeed interested for several months to the lucrative agreement between the firm and Google. Agreement that allows Google to remain the default search engine on iPhone, iPad and Mac.

Of course, all is not gloomy: in 2023, the firm enjoyed a performance of 48% over the year, and even broke a capitalization record on December 14, at $3.081 billion. Apple continues to diversify its portfolio with a notable entry into augmented reality with the Vision Pro headset which should begin marketing in the United States this year.

And we know that the firm is also preparing an offensive in AI about which we should learn more during 2024. After a period where the firm evolved in its own sphere in terms of capitalization, Microsoft is back & #8211; and has already surpassed Apple several times since 2018. One thing is certain: whether on the side of Microsoft or Apple, these big names in tech still have some nice surprises in store in the years to come. come.

• Microsoft's capitalization briefly exceeded that of Apple again on Thursday January 11, 2024.
• A first since 2021, even if this type of arms pass has taken place regularly since 2018.
• For now, analysts place the dynamic rather in favor of the Redmond firm.

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