Apple (company)

Apple Inc. is a California-based consumer electronics company especially known for its smartphone line known as the iPhone, one of the bestselling smartphones of all time. Apple sells different consumer electronics, including tablets, computers, televisions, wireless headphones, and has pursued many other technological endeavors. As of 2024, Apple is led by CEO Tim Cook.

From left to right: Steve Jobs, Ronald Wayne, and Steve Wozniak.

Apple Inc. was founded by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne on April 1, 1976, as Apple Computer. Wayne assisted Jobs and Wozniak in establishing the company but left just twelve days after Apple was founded. He was a good deal older than Jobs, and Wozniak and was worried about the company going under and his assets possibly being taken away. He sold all his shares in the company for $800—shares that would have been worth $300 billion in 2022. Apple's first CEO was named Michael Scott, who joined the company in 1977, and neither Jobs nor Wozniak were equipped to handle the importance of the role. Scott was a domineering CEO and was quoted as saying that firing people made his job fun.

The first Apple computer, Apple I, was released in May 1976 at the price of $666.66. In April 1977, the Apple II was released for $1,295, and the Apple II+ in June 1979 for $1195. Jobs began developing the Apple Lisa in 1979, which he claimed stood for "Local Integrated Software Architecture," but it was actually named for his daughter Lisa, whom he wouldn't originally admit paternity. It was eventually released in 1983 for $9,995. Apple first went public with its stock on December 12, 1980, offering 4.6 million shares costing $22 each. Scott, Apple's CEO, left the company in 1981 and was replaced by Mike Markkula.

Wozniak was involved in a serious plane crash on February 7, 1981. Also injured in the crash were Wozniak's fiancée, Candice Clark, her brother, and her brother's girlfriend, all with less serious injuries than Wozniak's, who suffered severe head trauma. Wozniak was the pilot and was legally unqualified to fly the plane. The crash was caused by a premature liftoff that caused the aircraft to stall and crash into a 12-foot embankment. The accident gave Wozniak two forms of temporary amnesia, and he was unable to recall both the crash and the following few weeks. He left Apple briefly to focus on his recovery and to pursue different goals; he returned in 1983 as a product developer and fully resigned on February 6, 1987, almost six years on the dot after his plane crash. The plane crash changed Wozniak's interests and ways of thinking, which led him to leave Apple permanently.

The first Macintosh, or Mac computer, was released in January 1984 at a cost of $2,495, and the Apple IIc was released in April 1984. Sales of the first Mac began dropping the next year, due to the limited number of applications available on Macs. Apple's next CEO was John Sculley, who took over in 1983. It was under his leadership that Jobs left the company in 1985, after disagreements on how to handle the poor sales of the Mac—Jobs wanted to both drop the price and spend more on advertising. Sculley disagreed, saying it could throw Apple into a loss; he approached Apple's board of directors on the issue, and they agreed with him. They enabled Sculley to remove Jobs from his position as head of the Mac development division and later from his position as chairman.

The Mac II was released in 1987, as well as the Mac SE. Apple's first laptop-style computer, the Macintosh Portable, was released in 1989 but did not sell well due to its initial lack of a backlight. Its second portable computer, the first true Mac notebook, was launched in 1991 as the PowerBook 100.

Sculley was replaced by Michael Spindler in 1993, who was replaced by Gil Amelio from 1996 to 1997. Amelio's retirement that year marked Jobs's return to the company, and Jobs became Apple's CEO, a position he would hold until 2011. Jobs launched the iMac in 1998. It sold nearly 800,000 units within five months of launch. In May 2001, Apple's first retail stores opened in Virginia and California. The first iPod was released in October of the same year and was hugely successful. The iTunes store went live in 2003, Apple's site for purchasing and downloading songs. iTunes expanded its offerings to music videos and TV shows in October 2005 and movies in September 2006.

On January 9, 2007, Jobs announced the company name change from Apple Computer, Inc. to Apple Inc. The first iPhone was announced and released that year, as was the iPod Touch. The App Store debuted in July 2008. It sold third-party applications for the iPhone and iPod Touch. The first iPad was released in April 2010.

Jobs took a leave of absence from Apple in January 2009 due to health reasons, which lasted until June of that year. In January 2011, Jobs took a second leave of absence. It was at this point that Tim Cook began to take over Apple CEO duties. Jobs resigned in August 2011, and in October, he died from pancreatic cancer, a diagnosis that was not known to the public or most of the company until his death.

The first Apple Watch was released in April 2015. AirPods, Apple's wireless earpods, were launched in December 2016. In July 2020, Apple committed to reaching 100% carbon neutrality by 2030. In a major iOS update (iOS 14.5), Apple enabled the ability for iPhone users to opt out of ad tracking on apps and websites. In early January 2022, Apple was the first company to be valued at a high of $3 trillion.

Apple products run on Apple's corresponding operating systems, including MacOS, iOS, watchOS, and tvOS. Apple devices have continuity features, which allow for all Apple-brand devices owned by a user to connect and sync information, notifications, and more. The company also produces software as a service and media options. Some examples of those are iCloud, iTunes, ApplePay, the App Store, and Apple TV.

Apple's laptop and desktop computing hardware centers around the Mac brand and includes the following:

• MacBook Air—more affordable laptop range
• MacBook Pro—higher performance laptop range
• iMac—all-in-one desktop computers
• Mac mini—compact desktop computers
• Mac Studio—intermediate desktop range
• Mac Pro—high-performance desktop computers
• Displays—Apple monitor for its Mac range

Macs previously ran on Intel processors. Starting with certain models, announced in late 2020, the company began transitioning its Mac line of products to Apple silicon. This includes any MacBook Pro introduced in 2021 or later (plus the 13-inch MacBook Pro M1 2020), MacBook Airs introduced in 2022 or later (plus the MacBook Air M1 2020), iMacs introduced in 2021 or later, Mac minis introduced in 2020 or later, Mac Studios introduced in 2022 or later, and Mac Pros introduced in 2023 or later.

The first iPhone launched on June 29, 2007, at MacWorld 2007. In the keynote announcing the device, Steve Jobs described the iPhone as a combination of three hardware concepts:

A widescreen iPod with touch controls; a revolutionary mobile phone; and a breakthrough Internet communications device [...] These are not three separate devices, this is one device, and we are calling it iPhone.

Steve Jobs's keynote announcing the iPhone at MacWorld 2007.

Apple Inc. has released new iPhone hardware each year since its 2007 launch. The company has since segmented the iPhone product line into several other categories, including the iPhone SE, the iPhone Mini, the iPhone Pro, and the iPhone Pro Max. The iPhone's progression has seen new features such as touch ID, face ID, a front-facing camera, the AI assistant Siri, and 3D touch.

Apple's tablet brand, the iPad, was first released on April 3, 2010, in the United States. The first iPad would not be available for purchase in other countries until May 28. Over 300,000 units were sold at launch. The iPad lines include the regular iPad, the iPad Air, iPad Mini, and iPad Pro. The iPad 2 was released in 2011. The first iPad Mini was released in 2012, the Air in 2013, and the Pro in 2015. The iPad line has grown to support accessories like the Apple Pencil stylus and peripheral devices, such as trackpads and computer mice for navigation.

Apple Watch is a line of smartwatches produced by Apple. Pre-orders for the first Apple Watch began on April 10, 2015, and they were also available in select stores to try on. On April 16, 2015, it was announced that the Apple Watch would not be sold in stores, likely due to supply shortages and an unanticipated volume of pre-orders. There were 957,000 pre-orders in the United States on the first day alone, and some models sold out within hours. The official release date for the watch was April 24, but only a small number of pre-orders shipped the opening weekend. Pre-order shipping dates quickly moved from April to June or later for the bestselling models. The first generation Apple watch consisted of three models: everyday, sport, and a luxury model with a band made of eighteen-carat gold, which cost $17,000. The latter model did not sell well and was soon discontinued.

Apple launched the Series 1 and 2 Apple watches in 2016. The Series 3 was launched in 2017 and came with cellular ability, which gave it the ability to independently connect to WiFi and defeated the need to pair the watch with an iPhone. One new series has been released each year since then, with the most recent model released being the Series 9 in 2023.

Since its launch, Apple has progressively added various sensors to each Series, including sensors for GPS, heart rate sensing via ECG, fall detection, and others. Apple Watch can be paired with an array of Apple-designed watch bands, which makes the line of smartwatches a fashion accessory as well as a health tracking and mobile communications platform. As of January 2022, over 33 million Apple watches have been sold.

A patent infringement case was brought against Apple in 2023, pushing for the company to stop selling two of its Watch models. The case alleges that the Series 9 and UItra 2 models contain pulse oximetry technology that infringes on Masimo's patents. In October 2023, the US International Trade Commission imposed an import ban on the models. A ban was imposed and lifted in December 2023. Apple released new versions of the Series 9 and Ultra 2 without the features referred to in the case.

The iPod is a line of portable music players from Apple. The company launched the first generation of its iPod line in October 2001. The iPod line is segmented into several categories, including the iPod, iPod Nano, iPod Mini, iPod Shuffle, and iPod Touch. In 2011, Apple had 70% of the global MP3 player market share through its iPod products. Apple stopped selling the Nano and Shuffle products in 2017, leaving the iPod Touch line as the only iPod-branded product still sold by Apple. The last update to the iPod Touch range happened in 2019. In 2022, Apple discontinued the iPod over twenty years after its first release. Apple sold more than 400 million.

Apple originally shipped wired earbuds with both iPods and iPhones. In 2012, Apple released an improved version of its wired earbuds, branded as EarPods. Apple's original wired earbuds had a standard 3.5mm jack which plugged into the iPhone or iPod's headphone jack. Apple removed the separate 3.5mm jack connection from iPhones beginning with the iPhone 7 in 2016. Since then, wired earbuds have been shipped with a Lightning jack and a 3.5mm-to-Lightning adaptor connector.

First-generation AirPods.

Apple released the first generation of AirPods in December 2016, its line of wireless earbuds. Apple released AirPods Pro, which feature active noise cancellation and spatial audio technologies, in October 2019. AirPods Max, a line of over-ear headphones that are Apple's highest-end wireless personal audio product, were released in December 2020.

Apple's HomePod is a line of smart speaker products which uses Apple's Siri digital assistant as a voice interface for controlling the device and issuing commands for media playback and smart home functionality. The original HomePod was launched in February 2018 and was discontinued in March 2021 to focus on the HomePod Mini, which was released in October 2020. Apple released its lower-priced HomePod Mini in October 2020. The second-generation HomePod was released in January 2023, which is slightly smaller and lighter than the original and has expanded features.

The iPod HiFi was a discontinued home and portable audio product built to be compatible with Apple's iPod line of personal digital music players. The iPod HiFi featured high-fidelity speakers and was powered either via power outlet or D-cell batteries.

Apple announced its subscription music service, Apple Music, on June 8, 2015. Apple Music was made available on June 30, 2015. Estimates in June 2022 stated Apple Music had 88 million subscribers and that the service paid artists an average of $0.0076 per listen. The service offers ad-free listening to over 100 million songs, over 30,000 playlists, and radio shows across multiple devices, online and offline. Users can also listen to music with spatial audio. Apple Music Sing provides real-time song lyrics.

Apple TV is the smart television hardware designed and sold by Apple. It runs a version of iOS called tvOs. Users have the ability to play audio and video content from another Apple device on a connected television through Apple's AirPlay wireless protocol. Apple also has a subscription video service called AppleTV+, which can be accessed through its Apple TV hardware platform. On AppleTV+, users can stream shows and movies, including Apple Originals. Using the Apple TV app, users can buy and rent movies, view media from other streaming services, and watch cable TV.

Apple has been experimenting with augmented reality (AR) technology since the late 1990s. More recent indicators of Apple's interest in AR emerged in 2015 with the company's acquisition of Metaio, an augmented reality startup spun out in 2003 from Volkswagen. Apple repurposed some of Metaio's technology for its release of ARKit, a software developer kit (SDK) aimed at accelerating the development and implementation of augmented reality applications on iOS devices. In 2017, Bloomberg reported that Apple was working on its own AR headset product, which at the time was projected for release in 2020.

At WWDC 2023, Apple announced the Vision Pro, an AR headset the company describes as a "spatial computer." The Vision Pro offers a fully three-dimensional interface controlled by the user’s eyes, hands, and voice. The headset runs on Apple's spatial operation system visionOS. It provides video passthrough to deliver a fully three-dimensional user interface in the user's environment, allowing them to scale apps beyond the boundaries of a traditional display.

On January 8, 2024, Apple announced the Vision Pro will be available in the US on February 2nd. Pre-orders for the device opened on January 19.

Apple has not formally acknowledged rumors that it is working on an electric self-driving car, but over the years, more facts have emerged that point to the rumor being true. The rumors began in 2014, when it was reported that Tim Cook assigned former Ford engineer Steve Zadesky as project lead, later revealed as "Project Titan." In 2017, Apple was given permits by the state of California to test self-driving vehicles on California roads, and in 2018 Apple registered twenty-seven self-driving cars with California's DMV. In 2019, Apple acquired self-driving car company Drive.ai. Apple has been rumored to be in partnership talks with a number of established automakers, including Mercedes, Volkswagen, Hyundai, and Kia Motors, among others.In March 2022, Porsche CEO, Oliver Blume, announced that Porsche is considering a partnership with Apple. Blume stated Porsche is discussing "exciting common projects" with Apple, but that it is too soon to make any firm decisions on future projects.

The Vision Pro is an augmented reality (AR) headset from Apple controlled by the user's eyes, hands, and voice. Apple refers to the device as a "spatial computer" capable of blending digital content with the physical world. The Vision Pro uses video passthrough to create a fully three-dimensional user interface for apps, allowing them to scale beyond the boundaries of a traditional display. The headset was released in the US on February 2, 2024.

The headset runs visionOS, the first spatial operating system, with users able to tap icons with their fingers to select, flick with the wrist to scroll, and give voice commands. The Vision Pro also supports Bluetooth accessories, such as the Magic Keyboard and Magic Trackpad, and lets users connect their Mac for use inside the headset. The device is powered by a separate battery pack and has a glass front, an aluminum frame, five sensors, twelve cameras, and a 4K display for each eye. The Vision Pro uses an M2 chip and a new chip called the R1.

The Apple Vision Pro hardware.

A wire running from the rear of the headset connects to the battery pack, which provides up to two hours of use on a single charge, or the battery pack can be plugged into the wall for extended use. IR cameras on the inside of the headset track the user's eyes, downward-facing external cameras on the chassis track hands, and lidar sensors detect objects around the device, tracking their position in real time. The headset also has six microphones. All of the system's sensors feed into the R1 chip, which reduces lag to stream images to the headset display. The mask and strap, called the Light Seal and Head Band respectively by Apple, are cloth-lined and modular flexing to fit a variety of face shapes and head sizes. The strap is ribbed to fit around the back of the user's head, and different sizes and styles are available. Apple is working with Zeiss to create custom optical inserts that magnetically attach to the lenses so glasses wearers do not require them when wearing the headset.

The Vision Pro displays a live feed of the user's eyes on the outside of the headset using a system called EyeSight, which has the effect of making the headset look transparent. Users in full VR will display a glowing screen on the front of the headset to indicate they are unavailable.

The Vision Pro headset with the EyeSight feature.

The Vision Pro was unveiled at Apple's 2023 WWDC conference in June 2023. The headset has been under development for years, with reports of multiple iterations and delays. While developing the Vision Pro, Apple filed for over 5,000 patents. During the announcement, Apple showed a number of use cases for the Vision Pro, including the following:

• Entertainment—watching films and TV with the headset to create an immersive experience
• Photos & videos—capturing moments with spatial photos and videos using the headset's 3D camera and spatial audio
• Connecting and collaborating with friends and colleagues in AR with lifesize FaceTime video tiles or working on the same document simultaneously

On January 8, 2024, Apple announced the VIsion Pro would be available to US customers on February 2, 2024, with pre-orders starting on January 19. Three versions of the Vision Pro are priced at $3,499 (256GB), $3,699 (512GB), and $3,899 (1TB).

The Vision Pro consists of a laminated glass display attached to a curved aluminum alloy frame. A thermal system moves air through the enclosure to reduce heat and improve performance. The displays are two custom micro-OLED screens with 23 million pixels in total. Apple has stated they're the size of a postage stamp. The EyeSight external display shows the user's eyes when viewing a less immersive augmented reality mode or a glowing screen when immersed in a VR scenario. The display provides a recording indicator when the user is capturing video with the camera. It has a 90Hz refresh rate, with a special 96Hz refresh rate available for 24fps video. Zeiss Optical inserts with the user's prescription can be magnetically attached to the lenses inside the headset for users who wear glasses.

The Vision Pro has twelve cameras and five sensors for monitoring hand gestures and mapping the environment. Two of the cameras transmit over a billion pixels per second to the display to depict the world around the user. Other cameras are for head tracking, hand tracking, and real-time 3D mapping. Infrared flood illuminators that enhance hand tracking in low-light conditions. The headset also has a camera capable of taking 3D photos and videos. LiDAR depth sensors determine the size and location of the objects in the environment and can scan the user's face to create a digital persona that is used in FaceTime. Inside the headset are four infrared cameras and LED lights that project invisible light patterns onto each eye for iris scanning for authentication and eye tracking for navigation purposes.

Audio straps on each side of the headset include speakers for spatial audio. Apple describes them as dual-driver audio pods positioned next to each ear, with the ability to analyze the room's acoustic properties to adapt the sound to match the space. The Vision Pro also has six microphones. A detachable braided headband can be adjusted to fit different users' heads, and the magnetic Light Seal comes in multiple shapes and sizes. A digital crown on the top right of the headset brings up the home view when pressed and controls the level of immersion when turned. A button at the top left enables the device to take spatial videos and spatial photos. The power cable attaches to the left side of the headset and can be plugged into a power source or an external battery that ships with the headset.

The Vision Pro is powered by two chips, an M2 (the same that is in Apple Macs) for processing and an R1 chip for handling the information coming from the cameras, sensors, and microphones.

A table showing the Vision Pro specifications is shown below.

The Vision Pro includes a light seal, light seal cushion, solo knit band, cover, dual loop band, battery, 1.5m USB-C charging cable, 30W USB-C power adapter, and a polishing cloth. Apple provides a range of accessories, including a travel case ($199), Zeiss optical inserts (starting at $99 with the price depending on the user's prescription), and additional batteries ($199), light seals ($199), light seal cushions ($29), battery holders ($49.95), solo knit bands ($99), dual loop bands ($99), charging cable ($29), and power bricks ($39).

VisionOS is Apple's mixed reality operating system that powers the Vision Pro. VisionOS facilitates a range of activities with the Vision Pro, including working, capturing 3D video, FaceTime calls, gaming, and watching videos. Users can view multiple tabs simultaneously and use a virtual keyboard, magic keyboard, or dictation to type. VisionOS enables developers to build apps and games for spatial computing with SwiftUI's built-in support for standard gestures and ARKit to create custom gestures. Standard gestures include tapping fingers to select an element and pinching to rotate, drag, and zoom.

visionOS gestures.

With visionOS, users can interact with apps while also being connected to their surroundings or become immersed in a full VR experience. Spatial computing building blocks in visionOS include windows, volumes, and spaces.

Apple has stated that over 600 "spatial" apps will be available on the Vision Pro upon launch, along with over a million compatible apps on the App Store. Before the launch of the Vision Pro, YouTube, Spotify, and Netflix all declined to allow their iPad apps to run on the device.