After retaining the #3 spot on the Fortune 500 list for the past two years, in 2018 Apple has dropped one place and now sits at #4 on the list of the top U.S. corporations based on gross revenue. Apple's displacement on the list came due to Exxon Mobil rising from #4 in 2017 to #2 in 2018.
The full top five spots were Walmart at #1, Exxon Mobil at #2, Berkshire Hathaway at #3, Apple at #4, and UnitedHealth Group at #5. Other technology companies on the list include Amazon at #8, AT&T at #9, Verizon at #16, Alphabet at #22, and Microsoft at #30.
Fortune broke down Apple's spot on the list, mainly citing the "overall saturation of smartphones" as a potential reason for the company's inability to rise higher in the rankings. Fortune discussed similar problems for Apple in the company's profile last year, stating at the time that "Apple finally appeared to hit a wall" in reference to its reliance on iPhone sales.
Apple took a small step back, from No. 3 to No. 4, despite a 6% gain in annual sales, but it led the way in profits with more than $48 billion in net income. In short, the Apple juggernaut continues at tremendous scale and despite the overall saturation of smartphones, which make up the vast majority of the company’s sales and profits. In an unusual move, Apple introduced three new phones, the upgraded iPhone 8 and 8 Plus, as well as the redesigned iPhone X (pronounced “ten”), powered by facial-recognition technology. Services likes Apple Pay and Apple Music continued to rise too.
Going back eight years, Apple's previous rankings include 5th place in 2015 and 2014, 6th place in 2013, 17th place in 2012, 35th place in 2011 and 56th place in 2010. This year marks 24 years that Apple has been on the Fortune 500 list, with $229.2 billion of revenue and $48.3 billion of profits in the 2017 fiscal year. Although it lags behind the companies in revenue, Apple still beats the top three Fortune 500 companies in terms of annual profits, with Walmart at $9.9 billion, Exxon Mobil at $19.7 billion, and Berkshire Hathaway at $44.9 billion.
While the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are not expected to launch until September, there are already plenty of rumors about the devices.
iPhone 17 Pro's alleged design via Front Page Tech
Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models as of March 2025:
Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an aluminum frame, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone...
Apple today announced refreshed 13- and 15-inch MacBook Air models, now featuring the M4 chip, an upgraded camera, and a new "Sky Blue" color option.
"Sky Blue" is an all-new blue finish that joins Midnight, Starlight, and Silver. Apple describes it as a "beautiful, metallic light blue that creates a dynamic gradient when light reflects off of its surface." Space Gray is no longer available. ...
Apple today announced the 11th-generation iPad, now featuring the A16 chip and more storage.
The announcement came alongside the debut of the new iPad Air, which now features the M3 chip. From Apple's press release:
The A16 chip provides a jump in performance for everyday tasks and experiences in iPadOS, while still providing all-day battery life. Compared to the previous generation, the...
Apple today introduced new 11-inch and 13-inch iPad Air models with the M3 chip, along with an updated Magic Keyboard for the device.
With the M3 chip, the new iPad Air should offer up to 20% faster performance compared to the previous-generation model with the M2 chip, which was released in May 2024. In addition, the M3 chip brings hardware-accelerated ray tracing to the iPad Air for the...
The upcoming iOS 18.4 update for the iPhone includes two smaller but meaningful improvements for Apple's in-car iPhone mirroring system CarPlay.
First, CarPlay now shows a third row of icons, up from two rows previously. However, this change is only visible in vehicles with a larger center display. For example, a MacRumors Forums member noticed the change in a Toyota Tundra with a 14-inch...
Wednesday March 5, 2025 11:29 am PST by Joe Rossignol
The new MacBook Air has a useful upgrade: it natively supports up to two external displays, in addition to the laptop's built-in display.
In other words, the latest MacBook Air can be used with a pair of external displays without needing to keep the laptop's lid closed.
Apple's tech specs for the new 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Air:Simultaneously supports full native resolution on the...
Wednesday March 5, 2025 6:01 am PST by Joe Rossignol
Apple today announced that it has updated the Mac Studio with M4 Max and M3 Ultra chip options, Thunderbolt 5 ports, and more.
The M4 Max chip was already released last year in the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro. It can be configured with up to a 16-core CPU, up to a 40-core GPU, and up to 128GB of unified RAM. Geekbench 6 benchmark results indicate that the M4 Max is up to 75% faster than...
Wednesday March 5, 2025 1:47 pm PST by Joe Rossignol
Apple today updated the MacBook Air with the M4 chip, and the laptop is also available in an all-new Sky Blue finish alongside Silver, Starlight, and Midnight.
YouTuber Andru Edwards has showed off the Sky Blue color in a few real-world photos.
Keep in mind that the Sky Blue finish is not very saturated. However, the color's appearance will vary based on lighting conditions.
View ...
Apple today announced a completely redesigned Magic Keyboard accessory for the iPad Air.
The new keyboard features a larger built-in trackpad, a 14-key function row, and a new aluminum hinge. From Apple's press release:
The all-new Magic Keyboard for iPad Air expands what users can do at an even lower price. The larger built-in trackpad brings greater precision for detail-oriented...
All together now. On 1, 2, 3, let's us give it the all-time shout Go Higher! And Higher!
The distance between #4 and #1 could be mostly made up by Apple just doubling their prices. And why would we care? What's important to us is Apple coming in first in such contests. Anyone actually having any price sensitivity could either be run off ("why are you here?") or put in their place by spinning payment plan numbers with ever-longer terms ("just $X more per month").
Double them prices! Double them prices!
Furthermore, if Apple would quadruple their prices, they could probably double the revenue of the current #1. That would not be just taking first place... but doubling the runner up. We could sooooo celebrate such a leap. How much better the world would be if 4X the money flowed to Apple! Our individual lives would be so much better if our favorite corporation was that much richer.
Quadruple them prices! Quadruple them prices!
In either case, since unit costs would remain about the same, all of that doubled or quadrupled revenue would be added profit too... significantly strengthening our old standby of "...but who makes the most profitable _________".
Apple dropped because in the last few years they have disappointed many customers with their products.
I am still holding out for a more improved laptop to replace my 6 year old Air. Apple has lagged in the notebook line IMHO.
Apple 'dropped'? You sure? Odd how you'd think that because it pretty obvious that the inverse is true. They're at 4th not because they've 'dropped' but because the other three have higher revenue figures. Next time look deeper into the facts before posting.
You must have forgotten I assume where Apple confirmed they had a record first Q1 just a few weeks ago.
Apple's global revenue from 1st quarter 2005 to 2nd quarter 2018 (in billion U.S. dollars) ('https://www.statista.com/statistics/263426/apples-global-revenue-since-1st-quarter-2005/')
Holy crap! Some of these comments are an ugly indictment of our education system. Reading comprehension is at an all time low it seems. Apple "dropped" relative to other companies having higher revenue this year. They didn't drop because they sold less, ignored pro users, concentrated on emoji, or took advice from Siri. Apple actually had better revenue on this year's list ($229B for the #4 spot) than last year's list ($215B for the #3 spot). It's a simple comparison. Apple could hypothetically have a $300B year and fall to #10 if 9 other companies have years better than $300B. No conspiracy theory needed.
After retaining the #3 spot on the Fortune 500 list for the past two years, in 2018 Apple has dropped one place and now sits at #4 on the list of the top U.S. corporations based on gross revenue. Apple's displacement on the list came due to Exxon Mobil rising from #4 in 2017 to #2 in 2018.
