Fifty years after three young men launched Apple out of a California bedroom, the technology firm is today the second most valued company in the world. Its $4 trillion valuation is greater than India’s GDP. More than two billion Apple devices are in use globally. Yet, what makes the company unique is not only the wealth and the popularity it represents but also its deep cultural imprint across the world. Phones, computer and other personal technology-driven devices are ubiquitous in the modern world. But very few of them evoke the kind of passion that Apple products do among their customers. Apple built its distinctive identity not by pushing great technological innovations but through design: its products are sleek, attractive and easy to use. To its legion of admirers, the company’s gadgets are art disguised as technology. Marketing undoubtedly has played a key role in the company’s cult status. Its founder, Steve Jobs, in particular, made the launch of each new product a much-awaited affair that was followed by millions with anticipation. This helped Apple make its lure global: after the launch of a new product, long queues of customers eager to get their hands on the product snake around the firm’s stores in every major city, whether it is Boston or Bengaluru.

In many ways, Apple has also emerged as a poster child of globalisation. Apple uses components from dozens of countries. Most devices are assembled by Taiwanese companies such as Foxconn but in Chinese factories from where they are shipped around the world. China and Taiwan may not see eye to eye. Neither do China and the United States of America. But most Apple devices are a combination of efforts and investment from all three nations. Of late, as political pushback in the US against overseas manufacturing has grown, Apple has increased its domestic production footprint. In 2025, the company announced it would invest $500 million in the US over four years. At the same time, Apple has also moved some of its assembly facilities from China to India to reduce its dependence on the former.

Despite all its successes, Apple is also a cautionary tale. As a creature of a globalised economy, it is not immune to contemporary pushbacks against globalisation. As with its pivot towards US manufacturing in the face of political pressure shows, it is fundamentally — and unsurprisingly — a corporate entity that must secure the mechanisms that ensure access to markets and profits from the predations of the modern, hawkish State. That is also exhibited in other ways: Apple has its own operating system, web of apps, and parallel platforms that cannot be used alongside comparable systems on other phones or laptops. This has led to rising litigations between the company and governments and their surveillance architectures demanding access to Apple’s encrypted data. Apart from privacy, labour rights are another contentious issue that has shadowed Apple.

Ultimately, Apple’s journey reveals both the power and the perils of modern consumerism. It is hard to stop once one takes a bite. But every bite comes at a cost.