Founding and the Early Machines (1976-1980)
Apple Computer Company was founded on April 1, 1976 by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne. Wozniak had designed a compact personal computer, and Jobs pushed to sell it commercially. To raise startup capital, Jobs sold his Volkswagen minibus and Wozniak sold a programmable calculator.
The company's first product, the Apple I, was a hand-built circuit board that sold for $666.66. Wayne, wary of the financial risk, sold his roughly 10 percent stake back to Jobs and Wozniak less than two weeks after the founding. In 1977 the company incorporated as Apple Computer, Inc. and, backed by former Intel executive Mike Markkula, released the Apple II. With color graphics and an approachable design, the Apple II became one of the first highly successful mass-produced personal computers and drove the company's rapid early growth.
IPO and the Macintosh (1980-1985)
Apple went public on December 12, 1980, in one of the most notable technology IPOs of its era, creating hundreds of millions of dollars in market value and making several early employees wealthy overnight.
Inspired in part by graphical interface research at Xerox PARC, Apple pursued a more user-friendly computer. After the commercially disappointing Apple Lisa, the company launched the Macintosh on January 24, 1984, introduced by the famous "1984" Super Bowl commercial. The Macintosh brought a mouse-driven graphical interface to a wide audience. Despite its influence, early Mac sales fell short of expectations, contributing to internal tensions between Jobs and CEO John Sculley. In 1985, after a boardroom power struggle, Jobs resigned from the company he had co-founded.
The Wilderness Years and Jobs' Return (1985-1997)
After leaving Apple, Jobs founded the workstation company NeXT and acquired the computer graphics group that became Pixar. Apple, meanwhile, expanded its product line but struggled with bloated offerings, thinning margins, and growing competition from Windows PCs. Products such as the Newton handheld failed to reverse the decline.
By the mid-1990s Apple was losing money and market share and was widely seen as a possible acquisition or bankruptcy candidate. In late 1996 Apple bought NeXT, bringing Jobs back to the company along with the operating-system technology that would underpin future Mac software. In 1997, Jobs became interim CEO after the board removed Gil Amelio. At the Macworld Expo in August 1997, Jobs announced a partnership with Microsoft, which invested $150 million in non-voting Apple stock and committed to continue developing Office for the Mac, easing Apple's immediate financial pressure.
Reinvention: iMac, iPod, and iTunes (1998-2006)
Jobs streamlined Apple's product lineup and refocused the company on design and simplicity. The colorful, all-in-one iMac, launched in 1998, became a commercial hit and signaled Apple's turnaround.
In 2001 Apple opened its first retail stores and released the iPod, a portable digital music player that, paired with the iTunes software and later the iTunes Store (2003), transformed how people bought and listened to music. The iPod became a cultural icon and a major revenue driver, broadening Apple's identity from a computer maker to a consumer electronics company and setting the stage for its next major leap.
The iPhone and iPad Era (2007-2011)
At Macworld in January 2007, Jobs unveiled the iPhone, a touchscreen device combining a phone, an iPod, and internet communications. Released later that year, it redefined the smartphone and became the foundation of Apple's business. The company dropped "Computer" from its name, becoming Apple Inc. The App Store, launched in 2008, created a vast third-party software ecosystem.
In 2010 Apple introduced the iPad, establishing the modern tablet market. During this period Apple's revenue and stock soared. Jobs, who had battled pancreatic cancer for years, resigned as CEO on August 24, 2011, and was succeeded by longtime operations chief Tim Cook. Jobs died on October 5, 2011.
The Tim Cook Era and Modern Apple (2011-2025)
Under Cook, Apple emphasized operational scale, services, and steady product iteration. The Apple Watch arrived in 2015, and AirPods and an expanding Services segment (Apple Music, iCloud, the App Store, and later Apple TV+) grew into a large, recurring source of revenue.
Apple became the first U.S. public company to reach a $1 trillion market valuation in 2018, later surpassing $2 trillion in 2020 and $3 trillion in early 2022. In 2020 the company began transitioning Macs from Intel processors to its own Apple Silicon chips, starting with the M1, completing the shift across the Mac line by 2023. In 2024 Apple entered spatial computing with the Vision Pro headset and expanded into on-device artificial intelligence features. By 2025 Apple remained one of the world's most valuable and profitable companies, with a global workforce and a product ecosystem spanning hardware, software, and services.