Tech giant Apple has become the first publicly-traded company to hit a market value of $3 trillion. 

On Monday, the maker of the iPhone had its shares hit an all-time high of $182.88, exceeding the $182.85 share price needed to be worth $3 trillion. 

Apple’s market value first crossed the $1 trillion threshold in August 2018 and passed $2 trillion in August 2020.

The tech company now trails the likes of Microsoft, which is worth about $2.5 trillion, and Google owner Alphabet, which has its market value around $2 trillion. Retail giant Amazon follows with a market cap of $1.7 trillion and Elon Musk’s Tesla at about $1.2 trillion.

Since the iPhone was first unveiled in 2007, Tim Cook, who in 2011 took over as chief executive after founder Steve Jobs’ death, Apple has increased its revenue, diversifying from phone and laptop sales to services like video streaming and music.

In the past year, Apple reported a 47 per cent revenue increase from the previous year, during its last quarter. Apple’s services revenue was 19 per cent of revenue, up from less than 18 per ent of revenue two years ago and 15% three years ago.

However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the phone company experienced a chip shortage that delayed the manufacture and release of notable products. 

NASDAQ predicted that the tech company might hit a market value of $4 trillion this year.

“Strong fundamentals could lift Apple shares meaningfully in 2022 and beyond. Consider that the company is seeing strong double-digit revenue growth recently, with record fiscal fourth-quarter revenue across every geographic and product segment,” NASDAQ said in its report. 

The financial service corporation also predicted that Apple stock could rise simply through expansion. 

According to the report, the tech giant’s services business is a more reliable revenue source than its products, allowing investors to start rewarding the stock with higher valuation multiples.