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.
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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.
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 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.
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