Microsoft reclaims crown as world’s most valuable company after Apple’s sharp slide

Microsoft

Apple is no longer the world’s most valuable public company, according to a report by CNBC. Following a brutal four-day selloff, the iPhone maker’s stock has dropped 23%, pushing its market cap down to $2.59 trillion and handing the top spot back to Microsoft, which closed Tuesday at $2.64 trillion.

The shift at the top comes as markets reel from President Donald Trump’s sweeping new tariff plan, which slaps fresh import taxes on goods from more than 100 countries. According to the report, the Nasdaq is down 13% over the same period, but Apple is bearing the brunt of it — largely due to its heavy manufacturing footprint in China.

The report quotes analysts at UBS who have suggested that the prices of the iPhone could rise by as much as $350 if are already warning of sticker shock: the iPhone 16 Pro Max could cost as much as $350 more in the U.S. if tariffs stick. With iPhones still accounting for about half of Apple’s revenue, that’s not a small threat.

Microsoft, meanwhile, is looking like the steadier ship. Despite issuing underwhelming revenue guidance in January, analysts at Jefferies recently called it one of the “more insulated” players in tech, particularly from tariff chaos. The company has more exposure to software and enterprise cloud services—less tariff-sensitive than Apple’s hardware-heavy business.

Apple and Microsoft have traded the title of the world’s most valuable company. Microsoft held the title of most valuable public company in early 2024, before Apple briefly pulled ahead.