iPhone maker Apple set to create history, nears $3 Trillion milestone

iPhone maker Apple is edging closer to a $3 trillion stock-market value for the first time ever.

The iPhone maker's shares rose 1% to $181.30 in premarket trading Monday.  (REUTERS)

Apple Inc. is edging closer to a $3 trillion stock-market value for the first time ever. The iPhone maker's shares rose 1% to $181.30 in premarket trading Monday, which would put the company at $2.98 trillion if that price holds up in the regular session. Since the stock touched a low in early October, Apple's value has increased by about $700 billion.

The iPhone maker's share price has surged throughout 2021, leaving it up more than 200% since Covid first sent the world into lockdown early last year and underlined the centrality of technology for work, education, entertainment and keeping connected. These are all markets that Apple touches on deeply through its hardware, software and media services, and that has contributed to it becoming the first company in history to hit $3 trillion, just 16 months after it first crossed the $2 trillion mark.

Apple Sued Over Broken Watch Screens That Injured Customers

(Bloomberg) Apple Inc.'s watch isn't all it's cracked up to be, a group of customers claims in a lawsuit over an alleged defect that it says can cause injuries.

The customers say Apple, in its zeal for compactness, failed to provide enough room inside the watch to allow for swelling of the internal battery. As a result the watch screen can detach, crack or shatter, the customers said.

“The detached, shattered, or cracked screens are a material and unreasonably dangerous safety hazard,” the customers said in the complaint, filed Thursday in federal court in Oakland, California.

The proposed class-action lawsuit was filed by four Apple Watch customers. Included in the complaint is a photo of a deep slash on the arm of one of the customers, purportedly caused when her Series 3 Apple Watch screen detached.

“The screens are made either of Ion-X glass (aluminum models) or sapphire crystal glass (stainless steel and titanium models) and each have a razor-sharp edge on all four sides,” the customers said.

Apple violated various consumer protection laws when it released the product with knowledge of the defect, according to the lawsuit.

The group seeks to represent anyone who bought any model of the Apple Watch starting with the first generation in 2015, and continuing until last year. Owners of this year's model are not included.

Apple didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

In 2019, the company announced a program to replace, free of charge, cracked screens on aluminum Series 2 and 3 watches.

“Apple has determined that, under very rare circumstances, a crack may form along the rounded edge of the screen,” the company said on its website.

The case is Smith v. Apple, Inc, 4:21-cv-09527, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California (Oakland).