Key takeaways
- Apple stock hit a record of about $351 on Friday, and for part of the trading day Apple was worth roughly $5.12 trillion, more than Nvidia. The two swapped places again during the session.
- It happened on iPhone Duo launch day, but the real trigger was Nvidia falling 4.4% a day earlier, in the biggest sell-off of the AI trade this year.
- My view: one day at the top is not a crown. Apple grows at a fraction of Nvidia’s pace, barely invests in AI, and if the Duo numbers were great, John Ternus would already be showing them.
On the day the iPhone Duo went on sale around the world, Wall Street had good news for Apple. Its stock traded above $351 per share, a new record, and with a market value of about $5.12 trillion Apple passed Nvidia as the most valuable company in the world. Nvidia and Google follow. Apple has been the best of the “Magnificent Seven” this year, up more than 28%.
But the lead was razor thin. Nvidia was worth about $5.09 to $5.10 trillion at the same moment, and live rankings later in the session showed Nvidia back in front. The difference is tens of billions of dollars, less than 1% of either company. Apple already closed above $5 trillion for the first time about a week ago, and it swapped the top spot with Nvidia back in July too.
In this article: Nvidia fell. That is the whole secret · Not spending on AI is not a strategy to brag about · A price based on hope, not numbers · Sold out in 30 minutes, so where are the numbers? · Ternus needs to look like a king · Where is the innovation? · Will Apple stay on top? · FAQ
Nvidia fell. That is the whole secret
Was it the iPhone Duo, or just Nvidia falling? It is obvious that this is only a market effect. On Thursday the Nasdaq dropped 2.6%, the chip index lost 6.7%, and Nvidia alone fell 4.4%. One trader called it the widest selling of the AI trade this year. Apple went up a little, Nvidia went down a lot, and they met in the middle.
I don’t believe that Apple, which grows at a fraction of Nvidia’s pace, will stay number one for long. Apple promises around 10% revenue growth this year. Nvidia grew more than 100% last quarter. And Nvidia makes the things we will need in the future. I think Nvidia fell more because of its huge spending, and because of all the talk around it, logistics, production, who will pay for all those chips. Not because Apple, with its Duo, suddenly became so famous.
Even with the Duo, I don’t think Apple’s results this year will be that good. My guess is that the boom around the Duo will fall faster than we expected, and together with the boom, the share price will fall too.
Not spending on AI is not a strategy to brag about
Investors now say Apple is smart because it does not burn hundreds of billions on AI data centers like Google, Microsoft, Meta or Amazon. Apple’s capital spending has even been going down. One strategist said that Apple, once criticized for not spending more on AI, avoided the “capex pitfalls.”
I think everyone who says this answered it themselves: Nvidia helped by falling. Praising a company because it does not invest in AI is embarrassing. People, don’t you see where AI has moved? And the only one of the biggest tech giants says it will not invest as much, or did not.
Apple does not build its own big AI model like Anthropic with Claude, OpenAI with ChatGPT or Google with Gemini. The new Siri simply runs on a model from the competition. That does not mean Apple users get the new features that people at Anthropic, OpenAI and Google get right away. It is just Siri working on someone else’s model. In a year or two, Apple will feel it, when it does not go together with the future. Apple says it is not threatened by OpenAI. We will see.
A price based on hope, not numbers
Apple now trades at about 45 times its earnings, while Nvidia, growing several times faster, trades at about 43. Wait, we don’t even know the numbers yet, and we are already making fame out of a new device, as if it will sell like a normal iPhone 18, which is expected in spring. Does everyone really believe that so suddenly? I would not.
From what we see in the reviews, I think Apple will not have that much glory with the Duo. And I can say with certainty that this is more speculation. It is nice that for one day, and not even a full day, because the positions changed during trading, they became number one. But to say that this is a big lead and to make a final verdict out of it, I would not.
In my opinion, it is the other way around. A company that grows 100% a year is a result you can expect to go even higher, because AI is only gaining strength. Data centers and servers, we will need more and more of them. Believe me, more than the iPhones that people keep buying again and again.
| Apple | Nvidia | |
|---|---|---|
| Market value (Oct 23, intraday) | about $5.12 trillion | about $5.09–5.10 trillion |
| Stock this year | about +28% | about +14% |
| Revenue growth | about 10% (guidance) | over 100% (last quarter) |
| Price to earnings | about 45x | about 43x |
| Next earnings | November 2 | around November 18 |
Sold out in 30 minutes, so where are the numbers?
Apple reports its next results on November 2. The Duo will not be in them, because that quarter ended in September and the Duo went on sale on October 23. And Apple has not reported how many iPhones it sells since 2018.
Still, I am curious. The demand sounded almost like the quintessence for Apple: look, we sold everything out in 30 minutes. We know that this year Apple was number one in China, and nobody talks much about the others. So either the Duo numbers are not as big as everyone assumes, or it is embarrassing. That interests me more, because Ternus really made a lot of drama, in the good sense, PR for the Duo, more than we have seen at Apple for a long time. I already wrote that “extraordinary” is not a number.
Ternus needs to look like a king
This will be very interesting for me. John Ternus will be on his first earnings call as Apple CEO. As you know, he does not suit me as Apple’s CEO. For the first time, I really don’t like the behavior of the man who presents such a huge giant as Apple.
So I am waiting most of all for what he has achieved, and especially why there are no Duo numbers. That is the most important question for me. In his place, after that show with the Duo, he must look like a king. If he had such numbers, he would gladly show them off, so investors invest even more in Apple. That would help Apple far more to stay number one on the stock market. And he won’t tell us.
Where is the innovation?
A reader under one report wrote that “the price increases clearly are doing their work.” So does Apple make money on innovation, or mostly on raising prices? I keep asking myself the same question: where is that innovation, and how did it show for each of you? For me, there was no such innovation.
What I did see was a YouTube test where Tim Pan folded the Duo 10,000 times. The hinge still works, but the film over the hinge area started to look scary wide, and the crease was already clearly visible. People say we need time to see how that matte film will behave. I think we already have answers.
Will Apple stay on top?
I don’t think Apple will stay on top for long. The positions will keep switching, and the AI trade will decide it, not the Duo. But Apple will still remain one of the best companies, maybe for investing. Just don’t celebrate a one-day crown as if it were the end of the race.
Also on Evolt News: iPhone Duo 2 with Face ID? Get ready for a thicker phone · iPhone Duo reviews wear pink glasses
Photo: Apple.
This article is opinion.
Apple vs. Nvidia: FAQ
Is Apple the most valuable company in the world?
On October 23, 2026, Apple briefly passed Nvidia with a market value of about $5.12 trillion as its stock hit a record of about $351. The two companies swapped places again during the same trading session.
Why did Apple pass Nvidia?
Mainly because Nvidia fell. On October 22, Nvidia dropped 4.4% in a broad sell-off of AI and chip stocks, while Apple rose about 1% to a record close.
Did the iPhone Duo push Apple stock up?
The record came on iPhone Duo launch day, but no single product explains a share-price move. Duo sales are not in Apple’s next results, because the quarter ended in September.
When does Apple report its next earnings?
Apple reports fiscal fourth-quarter results on November 2, 2026. It is John Ternus’s first earnings call as CEO.
Does Apple report iPhone Duo sales numbers?
No. Apple stopped reporting iPhone unit sales in 2018 and gives only revenue, so it is not expected to report how many Duos it sold.
Sources: 9to5Mac, The Apple Post, Stocktwits, 24/7 Wall St., Yahoo Finance, MacRumors, Dexerto.
Our Take
Apple passed Nvidia for a few hours on iPhone Duo launch day, mostly because Nvidia fell. For me, one day at the top is speculation, not a crown, and not investing in AI is nothing to brag about.
The real test is November 2. If the Duo were such a hit, John Ternus would show the numbers. I don’t think he will.
