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{{Infobox company
|name=Apple Inc.
|num_employees=147,000
|website=apple.com
}}
{{Confuse|Apple (Fruit)}}

Apple Inc. is a multinational technology firm headquartered in Cupertino, California, that specializes in consumer devices, software, and online services. Apple is the world's most valuable firm, the fourth-largest personal computer vendor by unit sales, and the second-largest mobile phone manufacturer, with revenue of US$365.8 billion in 2021. It is also the world's most valuable company as of January 2021. Along with Alphabet ([[Google]]), [[Amazon]], Meta ([[Facebook]]), and [[Microsoft]], it is one of the Big Five American information technology corporations. 

Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne founded Apple Computer Company on April 1, 1976, to build and sell Wozniak's Apple I personal computer. Jobs and Wozniak formed Apple Computer, Inc. in 1977, and the Apple II, the company's next computer, became a best seller. In 1980, Apple went public, and it became an instant financial success. 

Throughout the 1990s, as the market for personal computers grew and evolved, Apple lost market share to the lower-priced duopoly of the Microsoft Windows operating system on Intel-powered PC clones (also known as "Wintel"). In 1997, just weeks before filing for bankruptcy, the business purchased [[NeXT]] in an attempt to correct Apple's failed operating system strategy and bring Jobs back to the company. Jobs led Apple back to profitability during the next decade by introducing the iMac, iPod, iPhone, and iPad to critical acclaim, producing memorable advertising campaigns, establishing the Apple Store retail chain, and purchasing other firms to expand the company's product portfolio. Jobs died two months after resigning in 2011 due to health issues. Tim Cook took over as CEO after him.  

In August 2018, Apple became the first publicly traded US corporation to be valued at more than $1 trillion, followed by $2 trillion in August 2020 and $3 trillion in January 2022. The corporation has been criticized for its contractors' labour policies, environmental practises, and corporate ethics, which include anti-competitive practises and materials sourcing. The corporation has a high level of brand loyalty and is regarded as the most valuable brand in the world.

== History ==

=== 1976–1980: Founding and incorporation ===
Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne formed Apple Computer Company as a business partnership on April 1, 1976.<ref>https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/apple/11507451/Apple-celebrates-39th-year-on-April-1.html</ref> The Apple I was the company's first product, a computer designed and manufactured solely by Wozniak.<ref>https://www.worldcat.org/title/apple-confidential-20-the-definitive-history-of-the-worlds-most-colorful-company/oclc/921280642</ref><ref>https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6167297</ref> Jobs sold a VW Bus, for a few hundred bucks, and Wozniak sold a HP-65 calculator for US$500 (equivalent to $2,274 in 2020) to help finance for Apple.<ref>http://www.groovypost.com/news/steve-jobs-steve-wozniak-remembers/</ref> In July 1976, Wozniak made a first public appearance with the Apple I prototype at the Homebrew Computer Club.<ref>https://www.computerhistory.org/revolution/personal-computers/17/312</ref> The Apple I was launched as a motherboard with a CPU, RAM, and basic textual-video chips—a base kit concept that would not be marketed as a full-fledged personal computer until later.<ref>https://www.wired.com/gadgets/mac/multimedia/2002/11/56426</ref> It went on sale for US$666.66 (equivalent to $3,032 in 2020) shortly after its launch.<ref>http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7091190.stm</ref>

On January 3, 1977, Apple Computer, Inc. was formed without Wayne, who had left and sold a portion of the firm to Jobs and Wozniak for $800 only twelve days after co-founding Apple.<ref>https://investor.apple.com/faq/default.aspx</ref><ref>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Inc.#CITEREFLinzmayer2004</ref> During the incorporation of Apple, multimillionaire Mike Markkula supplied Jobs and Wozniak with crucial business advice and funding of US$250,000 (equal to $1,067,683 in 2020).<ref>https://nextshark.com/ronald-wayne-interview</ref><ref>http://edition.cnn.com/2010/TECH/web/06/24/apple.forgotten.founder/index.html</ref> Revenues expanded at an exponential rate over the first five years of operation, doubling every four months on average. Annual sales increased by 533 percent between September 1977 and September 1980, rising from $775,000 to $118 million.<ref>https://archive.org/details/infiniteloophoww00malo</ref><ref>https://news.fastcompany.com/apples-sales-grew-150x-between-1977-1980-4001956</ref> 

== Criticism ==
Apple products primarily function as fashion statements, with practicality and functionality only secondarily in mind. Apple devices are far-left on the ''[[phonelitical spectrum]]''. Apple contributed a lot to [[Benefits of user-replaceable batteries#History|the great transition into non-replaceable mobile phone batteries]]. 

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== See also ==
{{navbox mobile phones}}
* Criticism of Apple
* [[Apple cult]]
* [[iPhone]]
* [[List of features iPhones got late]]
* [[List of features iPhones lack]]
* [[Benefits of user-replaceable batteries]]
* [[Phonelitical spectrum]]

== References ==
* {{References}}
*[https://Poal.co/s/crApple Online forum for criticism and mockery of Apple]

{{technology-stub}}

[[Category:Electronics]]
[[Category:Mobile phones]]