Apple's market cap tops GDP of most US cities and set to grow with release of iPhone 8

Apple Inc.’s (NASDAQ:AAPL) market capitalisation is larger than the gross domestic product of all US cities apart from New York and Los Angeles.

The iPhone maker’s valuation of about US$800bn is more than the real GDP of Chicago, which was US$581bn in 2016.

It is also not far from exceeding the real GDP of Los Angeles of US$832bn last year.

If Apple wants to exceed the GDP of New York City, however, it needs to top US$1.483trn.

Apple may be on the way to reaching that milestone with analysts expecting the tech giant’s market valuation to surpass US$1trn following the launch of the iPhone 8 later this year.

Analysts expect Apple to top US$trn market valuation…. 

RBC Capital sees Apple topping a US$1trn market valuation within the next 12 to 18 months, saying the group’s revenue and margins have the potential to grow as the launch of the premium-priced iPhone 8 will boost average selling prices.

The pricier iPhones, including a 128 gigabyte model for at US$999 and a 256 gigabyte model for US$1,099, are due to be released in September.

The broker last week raised the stock’s target price to US$168 from US$157 and reiterated an ‘outperform’ rating.

Drexel Hamilton was the first to predict Apple’s market capitalisation could reach US$1trn when it raised its target price to US$202 a share from US$185 earlier this month.

Apple became the first company to see its market capitalisation surpass US$800bn on 8 May after Drexel’s remarks. Its share price has jumped 33% so far this year and 53% over the past 12 months. 

iPhone 8 blueprint leaked…

Leaks of the blueprint of the 10^th anniversary iPhone showed the new device will have a different shape with no home button and a Touch ID fingerprint scanner in the main display.

Designer Benjamin Geskin posted images of the iPhone 8 on his Twitter page, which appeared to reveal a dual camera system with one camera on top of the other and a flash between the two.

#iPhone8 visualization

(original https://t.co/8gDzWR4GIs) pic.twitter.com/O1OaTGCyt6

— Benjamin Geskin (@VenyaGeskin1) 29 May 2017

The iPhone 8 display is expected to transition to an elongated 18.5:9 aspect ratio like Samsung’s Galaxy S8 and LG’s G6.

How Apple’s valuation stacks up against tech rivals…

Apple is not the only tech company with its valuation to beat the GDP of Chicago with Google owner Alphabet Inc’s (NASDAQ:GOOGL) market capitilisation currently at US$683bn.

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) has a valuation of US$543bn, which is below Chicago’s GDP but above that of Dallas and Houston, which had real GDP of US$479bn and US$479bn respectively last year.

Amazon.com Inc.’s (NASDAQ:AMZN) market capitalisation is at US$478bn, ahead of Washington DC’s real GDP of US$454bn, while Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) has a valuation of US$442bn.

Story by ProactiveInvestors