Apple Stock’s 4 Biggest Competitors — Should You Invest?
Written by
Marc Guberti
Edited by
Rebekah Evans
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Apple has been a reliable long-term investment that has regularly outperformed the S&P 500. Shares are pretty steady over the past year and have more than doubled over the past five years. However, while iPhone sales and the App Store have defined Apple’s financials for many years, it has taken a recent dip as sales are growing slowly.
The big tech company could also see margin pressure from moving production locations. Even Needham analysts recently downgraded Apple from “buy” to “hold” and withdrew their price target for the stock, which isn’t always the best news for investors. Apple is currently selling at $211.25 a share and has a market cap of $3.13 trillion (as of July 17, 2025).
However, Apple’s success and opportunities still make it one of the biggest contenders in tech, which has attracted several competitors. Apple investors may want to keep up with the competition and consider these other four companies for portfolio diversification.
Alphabet
- Stock price: $183.47 (as of July 17, 2025)
- Market cap: $2.21 trillion
Alphabet is one of Apple’s top competitors due to its Android phones and Google Play, the company’s answer to the App Store. Android is the leading mobile operating system worldwide, while Apple is in the second spot. However, the App Store brings roughly twice the amount of revenue as the Google Play Store.
Apple outearns Alphabet and has a higher profit margin, but investors may want to monitor Alphabet for its artificial intelligence (AI) advancements. Although Alphabet got off to a rough start with AI, the company has adapted. Google Cloud revenue continues to grow at a fast pace, which has helped Alphabet report higher revenue and net income growth rates than Apple. Alphabet also has a lower price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio than Apple.
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Microsoft
- Stock price: $512.14
- Market cap: $3.79 trillion
Microsoft is another competitor to monitor due to its PCs and software. Although Microsoft’s smartphone never caught on and was discontinued in 2017, it has a lead over Apple in artificial intelligence. The tech giant’s big investments in OpenAI and the Microsoft Copilot launch, which took place two years ago, give it a comfortable lead.
Microsoft is also a leader in the cloud computing industry, but revenue growth has been decelerating in this segment. Investors may want to monitor Microsoft stock, as it has a 33 P/E ratio and decelerating financial growth rates. The stock is also flat over the past year and has “only” gained 121% over the past five years. Microsoft has underperformed the Nasdaq 100 over the past five years.
Amazon
- Stock price: $223.48
- Market cap: $2.37 trillion
Amazon is another big tech competitor. While Amazon also failed with its smartphone launch, Kindle tablets have been competing with iPad sales. However, the bigger competition comes from AI. Amazon is ahead of Apple in that area and has the world’s most recognizable cloud platform, Amazon Web Services. Amazon has more than 30% of the cloud platform market.
Amazon’s income streams are also more diversified than Apple’s. Amazon gives investors exposure to e-commerce, cloud computing, artificial intelligence, gaming, groceries and other verticals. Amazon makes more revenue than Apple, but Apple reports a higher net income due to better profit margins. Amazon stock is up by 36% over the past year and has rallied by 115% over the past five years.
Huawei
Although investors can’t buy Huawei shares, Apple investors should still keep an eye on this Chinese smartphone maker. China is Apple’s third-largest market, contributing to $67 billion of the company’s $391 billion in total fiscal 2024 revenue. However, revenue from China dipped year-over-year and that trend continued in Q1 during fiscal year 2025.
During the first quarter, Apple reported $18.5 billion in revenue from China. That’s down by 11% year-over-year. Huawei and boosted Chinese patriotism are two factors contributing to Apple’s decline in its third-largest market. Other companies like Starbucks and Nike are also losing ground in China. While the reasons are different for each company, Huawei and Vivo are the top performers in the Chinese smartphone industry.
Caitlyn Moorhead contributed to the reporting for this article.
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