Once a cutting-edge growth stock, Apple (AAPL 0.43%) has slowed considerably in recent years. If you had invested $1,000 in Apple stock five years ago, you'd now have $2,020, including the dividends you would have received.
An equal investment in the S&P 500 would've done about the same, totaling $2,010. Apple's return has more or less matched the stock market's over the last five years.
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In part, this is because Apple was already one of the largest publicly traded companies five years ago, with a market cap of $2.3 trillion. Growth tends to slow as companies get bigger. You can still get reasonable returns from large-cap stocks, but if you're looking for explosive growth potential, you're more likely to find it by investing in mid-cap stocks and small-cap stocks. The trade-off is that investing in these companies often carries more risk.
However, Apple hasn't been as cutting-edge recently either. One of its most recent new products, the Apple Vision Pro, suffered from poor sales, according to analyst firm IDC. And while other tech companies have impressed with artificial intelligence (AI) developments, Apple Intelligence has had a slow rollout. Last month, Apple chose to power its AI models with Google Gemini.
NASDAQ: AAPL
Key Data Points
Apple still looks to be in good shape thanks to its impressive product portfolio. It just reported record quarterly revenue of $143.8 billion in Q1 of its 2026 fiscal year, which ended Dec. 27, 2025. Well over half of that ($85.3 billion) came from iPhone sales.
Popular products and strong brand loyalty provide some degree of safety for Apple and its investors. It has a good chance of at least matching the market's returns over the next five years. But it will need more innovation, particularly in AI, to return to delivering outsize growth.
