# Apple

> The company that sells the iPhone and the Mac, plus the services that run on them.

- Level: Basic
- Topics: Tech companies, Hardware
- URL: https://tidbit.legios.com.ar/apple/
- In Spanish: [Apple](https://tidbit.legios.com.ar/es/apple/)

**Apple** was founded in 1976 by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak in California, and its first business was personal computers. Today it is best known for the **iPhone**, launched in 2007, which is still the product that brings in the most money. Around it sit the Mac, the iPad, the Apple Watch and AirPods, all designed in Cupertino and assembled by partner factories, mostly in Asia.

What makes Apple different is that it builds the hardware and the software together: it writes the operating systems (iOS, macOS) for its own devices only, and designs its own chips. Since 2020 the Mac uses **Apple silicon**, chips based on the Arm design that Apple engineers and TSMC manufactures, replacing the Intel processors it used before. Controlling every layer lets it tune battery life, speed and privacy features across the whole device.

The second business is **services**: the App Store, where it takes a commission on many app sales and subscriptions, plus iCloud storage, Apple Music, Apple TV+, Apple Pay and AppleCare. Services grow with every device already in people's hands, and the ecosystem (photos, messages and passwords syncing between your devices) makes switching to another brand inconvenient, which is part of the strategy.

## An analogy

A furniture brand that also owns the house it fits in. Each piece is designed to match the others and the rooms, so everything works smoothly together, and moving one piece to another house is more trouble than it seems.

## Keep in mind

- Founded in 1976 by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak; based in Cupertino, California.
- The iPhone is its largest product; Mac, iPad, Watch and AirPods complete the line.
- It designs its own chips (Apple silicon), which TSMC manufactures.
- Services such as the App Store and iCloud are its second big source of money.

## Go deeper

- [Apple Newsroom](https://www.apple.com/newsroom/)
- [Apple Inc. on Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Inc.)

## Related terms

- [Operating system](https://tidbit.legios.com.ar/operating-system/): The base software that runs a device and lets every app share its hardware.
- [Chip](https://tidbit.legios.com.ar/semiconductor-chip/): A sliver of silicon carrying billions of tiny switches that compute and remember.
- [Arm](https://tidbit.legios.com.ar/arm/): The British company that designs the processor blueprints inside almost every phone.
- [TSMC](https://tidbit.legios.com.ar/tsmc/): The factory that makes the world's most advanced chips for everyone else.
- [Intel](https://tidbit.legios.com.ar/intel/): The American company behind most PC and server processors for decades.