Depending who you talk to — and by most accounts — 2018 will be the year of the world’s first US$1 trillion market capitalisation company. It is a mythic milestone, no more. With a valuation teetering just above $920bn, iPhone maker Apple is inching towards the $1 trillion mark. Its continued upward trajectory has made it the world’s most valuable publicly listed company. As it stands — and I know this is not the most elegant comparison — Apple is worth more than the GDP of countries such as Turkey, Switzerland and Saudi Arabia. At the time of writing, the company was trading at a lofty $182/share, despite concerns over weak demand for the iPhone X and a somewhat middling earnings report last month. In fact, the share is up almost 40% since then. To reach the 13-digit (gulp) milestone, Apple will have to continue rising at a similar clip. That’s pretty doable if there is a pipeline of successful-ish new products, share buybacks and further bump-ups from Warren Buffett. Buffett’s Ber...

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