Apple vs Microsoft, side by side
They are two of the most valuable companies on Earth, but they earn their money very differently. Apple sells devices - iPhones, Macs, watches - and increasingly the services attached to them. Microsoft sells software subscriptions and cloud computing to businesses, income that renews month after month.
On our factor screen it looks strongest on quality and momentum, and weakest on value.
On our factor screen it looks strongest on quality and growth, and weakest on value.
The numbers, side by side
| Measure |  Apple |  Microsoft |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $308.91 | $464.72 |
| Market cap: The company's total value on the stock market - share price times the number of shares. Big = 'large-cap', small = 'small-cap'. | $4.54T | $3.45T |
| P/E: Price-to-earnings: the share price divided by yearly profit per share. Lower can mean cheaper; higher often means investors expect fast growth. | 35.5 | 25.1 |
| Div yield: Dividend yield: the yearly dividend as a percentage of the share price - roughly the income you'd earn just from dividends. | 0.3% | 0.8% |
| Revenue growth | 16.4% | 17.7% |
| 1Y: How much the share price has moved over the past year. | +48% | -9% |
More measures
| Forward P/E: Price-to-earnings: the share price divided by yearly profit per share. Lower can mean cheaper; higher often means investors expect fast growth. | 32.3 | 20.0 |
|---|---|---|
| Net margin | 27.6% | 40.3% |
| ROE | 148.8% | 34.0% |
| Beta: How bumpy the share price is versus the whole market. Above 1 swings more than the market; below 1 is calmer. It's about the ride, not whether it goes up or down. | — | 1.13 |
The bolder figure is simply the larger of the two - higher is not automatically good (a higher P/E means more expectation in the price; a higher beta means bigger swings).
How they differ
Apple is roughly 1.3x the size of Microsoft by market value. On our factor screen Apple currently screens higher on momentum, while Microsoft screens higher on value and quality. Apple trades on the higher P/E (35.5 vs 25.1), so more expectation is already built into its price; and Microsoft pays a dividend (0.8%) while Apple pays little or none. Over the past year the share prices moved +48% (Apple) vs -9% (Microsoft).
Descriptive only - how the two compare on today's data, never a verdict on either.
Apple, in one line
Apple is a global technology giant best known for designing the iPhone, Mac, and iPad, alongside a growing suite of digital services and software.
Read the full Apple explainer →Microsoft, in one line
Microsoft is the tech giant behind Windows, Office, and the Azure cloud platform, powering everything from home PCs to massive corporate data centres.
Read the full Microsoft explainer →Common questions
Do Apple and Microsoft actually compete?
Less than you might think. Apple's core business is consumer hardware and the app ecosystem around it; Microsoft's is business software (Office, Windows) and the Azure cloud. They meet at the edges - laptops, AI assistants - but most of their revenue comes from different customers.
Why do people call Microsoft's revenue 'recurring'?
Much of it is subscriptions - Office 365, Azure contracts - that renew automatically. Apple has been growing its own services income for the same reason: repeat revenue is steadier than one-off device purchases.