Apple turns 50, from garage startup to global tech titan

Apple is celebrating its 50th anniversary on April 1, 2026, marking five decades since its founding by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak in 1976.

Apple changed the course of personal computing and then brought a revolution to the mobile market with the iPhone, once dubbed the "Jesus phone" for its quasi-religious following.

The company began as a scrappy startup in a garage at the Los Altos, California home of Steve Jobs’ parents, where its founders built early computers in 1976. A college dropout, Jobs floated through India in search of spiritual guidance prior to founding Apple - a name he suggested to his friend Wozniak after a visit to a commune in Oregon he referred to as an "apple orchard."

Jobs was effectively pushed out of the company in the mid-1980s after a power struggle with then-CEO John Sculley. Following disappointing sales of the Macintosh and internal clashes over strategy and management style, Apple’s board in 1985 stripped Jobs of his operational responsibilities. Jobs resigned later that year, leaving the company he had helped found before returning more than a decade later to lead its revival.

Jobs reinvented the technology world four or five times, first with the Apple II, a personal computer in the 1970s; then in the 1980s with the Macintosh, driven by a mouse and presenting a clean screen that made computing inviting. The ubiquitous iPod debuted in 2001, the iPhone in 2007 and in 2010 the iPad, which a year after it was introduced outsold the Mac.

Jobs died on Oct. 5, 2011, at age 56, following a long battle with pancreatic cancer.

Tim Cook, Apple’s chief operating officer and a veteran of the company since the late 1990s, succeeded Jobs as chief executive in August 2011. Cook oversaw Apple’s expansion into new businesses including services, wearables and subscriptions, while sharply growing revenue and profits. Under his leadership, Apple broadened its global supply chain focus, emphasized shareholder returns and sustainability, and became the first U.S. company to reach a market value of $1 trillion, later surpassing $3 trillion.

As of late March 2026, Apple has a market value of roughly $3.6–$3.8 trillion, placing it among the top most valuable public companies globally.

Production: Jane Ross/Reuters