What If You'd Bought Apple Stock Instead of an iPhone 4?

$199 on an iPhone 4 in 2010, or the same money in Apple stock

$8,170

would be worth today — 41.1x the price of the iPhone 4

Apple shares

24.73

Held for

16.3 years

S&P 500 instead

$1,917

The iPhone 4 launched on June 24, 2010 with the Retina display and FaceTime. On a two-year contract, the 16GB model was $199.

How we worked it out: Launch price: $199 for the 16GB model with a two-year contract. We put the $199 into Apple stock at its closing price on June 24, 2010 ($8.05, adjusted for later stock splits and dividends) and value those shares at today's price. Launch prices are US list prices before tax.

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Past performance does not predict future returns. Not financial advice.