For the better part of a year, NVIDIA wore the crown as the most valuable company on earth. As of this morning, it has been dethroned by Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL | AAPL Price Prediction), the company Warren Buffett has bet more on than any other.
Per live market data on July 17, 2026, Apple’s market capitalization sits at roughly $4.88 trillion, edging NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA) at about $4.85 trillion. The lead is slim enough to change hands in a single trading session, but for now the title belongs to Apple. Reuters noted this is a spot Apple last held in April 2025.
Buffett’s Biggest Bet, Quantified
Apple is Warren Buffett’s largest holding. According to Berkshire Hathaway’s most recent 13F filing, as of March 31, 2026 and filed May 15, 2026, Apple remains Berkshire’s largest single holding by a wide margin: about 22% of the entire equity portfolio, some 227.9 million shares, valued at roughly $57.8 billion at the time of that filing. Buffett has trimmed the position over the past couple of years, yet Apple has stayed firmly at the top of Berkshire’s book. The man who once called Apple “probably the best business I know in the world” is watching that conviction pay off in the most public way possible.
How the Flip Happened
Two things happened at once: Apple ran hard, and NVIDIA stalled.
Apple stock has climbed steadily. It is up 5.39% over the past week, 11.37% over the past month, and 22.81% year to date, capping a one-year gain of 59.21%. That is a remarkable run for a company many investors had written off as the sleepy, mature giant of Big Tech. Fueling the reacceleration: Q2 FY26 revenue of $111.18 billion, iPhone sales of $56.99 billion off what Tim Cook called “extraordinary demand for the iPhone 17 lineup,” and a fresh $100 billion buyback authorization disclosed in the company’s Q2 FY26 8-K.
NVIDIA, meanwhile, has gone flat, essentially unchanged over the past month and up 11.34% year to date, a fraction of Apple’s climb.
This comes amid a sharp pullback across semiconductor and AI-infrastructure stocks, the same leverage-driven unwind that has rattled names like Micron and Corning. On the most recent trading day, NVIDIA fell 1.5%, more than Apple’s 0.96% decline. When the AI darlings sell off and the cash machine holds firmer, gaps this narrow close fast.
Too Close to Call
A market-cap crown that changes hands by a percentage point or two is a headline. Apple and NVIDIA are separated by a margin small enough that the standing could reverse by this afternoon. A single morning’s ranking should not be mistaken for a permanent shift in the balance of power. Both remain colossal, and both remain central to any large-cap portfolio.
NVIDIA’s ascent to number one was the defining market story of the AI era, proof that the picks-and-shovels supplier had become more valuable than the consumer giant that defined the previous decade. Apple retaking the top spot, even briefly, is a reminder that the AI trade cuts both ways, and that a company with a fortress balance sheet, enormous buybacks, and a billion-plus loyal customers still has plenty of firepower.
For Buffett, the moment is a quiet vindication. He was mocked for years for avoiding technology, then mocked again for piling into Apple so heavily, then second-guessed when he started trimming. Through all of it, Apple stayed his largest holding, and today it sits at the top of the global market-cap table. That is the Buffett playbook in miniature: find a wonderful business, buy an enormous amount of it, and let time do the work.
Whether Apple holds the crown through the close is anyone’s guess. The gap is too small to call. For this morning at least, the most valuable company on the planet sits atop Warren Buffett’s portfolio.
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