While Apple has been a company for over 30 years, it didn’t really begin to make a colossal impact on the world until its production of the iPhone in 2007. After the iPhone’s release, it became apparent that there was ample room for the market to grow and develop into what it is today. During this time of expected growth, Apple stocks flourished and grew at an alarming rate. A few years after the release of the iPhone ushered in the era of the iPad. Much like the iPhone, the iPad promised a new market that would grow boundlessly. However, that growth may soon be stopping, assuming it hasn’t begun a downwards trend already.

With the first iterations of the iPhone came the understandable goal to make the screen size larger while simultaneously reducing both the weight and the thickness of the phone. Additionally, a desire for a better resolution camera and improved processing power drove sales up with every new model of the iPhone introduced to the markets. The iPad followed a similar pattern: every year a new iteration would come out with improved features, namely the addition of cameras. At present, there does not seem to be any single feature that consumers are demanding for, resulting in a stagnation of both iPhone and iPad sales. Even without consideration for the iPhone, the last truly ‘new’ gadget introduced by Apple (other than the Apple Watch) was the iPad almost six years ago. While the Apple Watch is an innovative product introduced, it was neither the first of its kind, nor did it encapsulate everything that consumers wanted from a smart watch, making it far less successful (at launch) than the iPhone or iPad.

As a result of this, Apple now has a problem: there doesn’t seem to be that much growth forecasted for the company. Without a truly new and innovative product, Apple can’t reliably increase its amount of revenue, leading investors to be wary about Apple’s stock prices in the near future. To add fear to Apple’s already semi-alarming sales rates, Alphabet, the holding company for Google and everything associated with it, has recently surpassed Apple as the world’s most valuable company. This may hint that Alphabet is improving in areas where Apple is not.

Despite all of the things that Apple is currently doing, it is still unknown what is to come in the future. Perhaps there is something large that they arte waiting for the perfect time to unveil to the public. Should they do that, it would be sure to send them back on the upward trend for which they are so well known. However, if they continue to fumble and continue to release new versions of devices with only minimal improvements, then a competitor may be poised to overtake Apple, namely Alphabet and Google.