Will Google's (Alphabet) Market Cap Soon Top Apple's?

[tgp]

I have an interest in the stock market, especially the last year or so since Apple, Google, and Microsoft have been the top 3 companies in market cap. In February 2015, Apple's value hit $750 billion, while at the same time Google and Microsoft were swapping 2nd place back and forth at about half that, $360 billion, give or take.

At the market close today, Apple's value is $598.3 billion, and Google's is $543.5. (Microsoft is quite a ways back at $449.8 billion). I like to use dogsofthedow.com for tracking: Largest Companies by Market Cap Today

I'm wondering what's happened. The iPhone launch in September 2015 was at least as strong as previous releases. Apple released the iPad Pro. Why have they dropped so much, and why has Google rocketed?

I wish to add that I'm not looking for Apple bashing, based on personal device preferences. I know that we're Android fans here. That's my personal preference and what I use as a daily driver, although I also have a couple iPad Minis and a Macbook, as well as a Lumia phone and a few PCs. I suspect that Apple may feel some price pressure in the US with carriers moving away from 2 year contracts, making the actual cost of the device more transparent.

I guess my biggest question is about Google: why the drastic increase in market cap?

 

[B. Diddy]

I'm no market analyst, but I would suspect it has something to do with a looming dip in phone and tablet sales that is being projected for 2016. Big device manufacturers like Apple (and Samsung) stand to lose a bit of money from this, but perhaps Google is weathering this much better because its focus is more on web services. In addition, Google seems to be diversifying a lot lately (e.g., Project Fi, Google Fiber, Life Sciences aka Verily, the self-driving car, etc.). Apple is no doubt diversifying as well, but you just haven't heard much about it so far. Rumors swirl about an Apple Car, but that's probably still quite a way off in the future. They seem to be concentrating on dominating the media market (like with Apple TV), but that's a pretty competitive space to get embroiled in.

I could be way off base, but it's just one schmo's take.