By 1985, internal company problems led to Jobs leaving to form NeXT, Inc., and Wozniak withdrawing to other ventures; John Sculley served as long-time CEO for over a decade.

In the 1990s, Apple lost considerable market share in the personal computer industry to the lower-priced Wintel duopoly of the Microsoft Windows operating system on Intel-powered PC clones.

[18] Apple Computer, Inc. was incorporated in Cupertino, California,[1] on January 3, 1977,[19][20] without Wayne, who had left and sold his share of the company back to Jobs and Wozniak for $800 only twelve days after having co-founded it.

[46] After the departures of Jobs and Wozniak in 1985, Sculley launched the Macintosh 512K that year with quadruple the RAM, and introduced the LaserWriter, the first reasonably priced PostScript laser printer.

Although some worried about pricing themselves out of the market, the high-right policy was in full force by the mid-1980s, due to Jean-Louis Gassée's slogan of "fifty-five or die", referring to the 55% profit margins of the Macintosh II.

[50]: 79–80 This policy began to backfire late in the decade as desktop publishing programs appeared on IBM PC compatibles with some of the same functionality of the Macintosh at far lower price points.

The company lost its dominant position in the desktop publishing market and estranged many of its original consumer customer base who could no longer afford Apple products.

The major product flops and the rapid loss of market share to Windows sullied Apple's reputation, and in 1993 Sculley was replaced as CEO by Michael Spindler.

On July 9, 1997, Jobs staged a boardroom coup that resulted in Amelio's resignation after overseeing a three-year record-low stock price and crippling financial losses.

Apple acquired Macromedia's Key Grip digital video editing software project which was launched as Final Cut Pro in April 1999.

[111] Other record labels eventually followed suit and Apple published a press release in January 2009 to announce that all songs on the iTunes Store are available without their FairPlay DRM.

[115] On January 14, 2009, Jobs announced in an internal memo that he would be taking a six-month medical leave of absence from Apple until the end of June 2009 and would spend the time focusing on his health.

In the email, Jobs stated that "the curiosity over my personal health continues to be a distraction not only for me and my family, but everyone else at Apple as well", and explained that the break would allow the company "to focus on delivering extraordinary products".

[119] In June 2010, Apple released the iPhone 4,[120] which introduced video calling using FaceTime, multitasking, and a new design with an exposed stainless steel frame as the phone's antenna system.

[122] On January 17, 2011, Jobs announced in an internal Apple memo that he would take another medical leave of absence for an indefinite period to allow him to focus on his health.

[152] Toward the end of the year, TechCrunch reported that Apple was acquiring Shazam, a company that introduced its products at WWDC and specializing in music, TV, film and advertising recognition.

[161] The announcement was expected by industry analysts, and it has been noted that Macs featuring Apple's processors would allow for big increases in performance over current Intel-based models.

[165] The Wall Street Journal reported that Apple's effort to develop its own chips left it better prepared to deal with the semiconductor shortage that emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to increased profitability, with sales of M1-based Mac computers rising sharply in 2020 and 2021.

[177] On December 31, 2024, a preliminary settlement was filed in the Oakland, California federal court that accused Apple of unlawfully recording private conversations through unintentional Siri activations and shared them with third parties, including advertisers.

[228] However, Apple has aided law enforcement in criminal investigations by providing iCloud backups of users' devices,[229] and the company's commitment to privacy has been questioned by its efforts to promote biometric authentication technology in its newer[when?]

The company also has several other locations in Boulder, Colorado; Culver City, California; Herzliya (Israel), London, New York, Pittsburgh, San Diego, and Seattle that each employ hundreds of people.

[292] On June 24, 2024, the European Commission accused Apple of violating the Digital Markets Act by preventing "app developers from freely steering consumers to alternative channels for offers and content".

[311] Apple has created subsidiaries in low-tax places such as Ireland, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, and the British Virgin Islands to cut the taxes it pays around the world.

He followed this research by calling on the Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne to force these multinationals, which also included Google and The Coca-Cola Company, to state the effective rate of tax they pay on their UK revenues.

In November 2014, Apple arranged for all App Store revenue in a two-week period to go to the fundraiser,[324] generating more than US$20 million,[325] and in March 2017, it released an iPhone 7 with a red color finish.

[336] On January 13, 2021, Apple announced a $100 million Racial Equity and Justice Initiative to help combat institutional racism worldwide after the 2020 murder of George Floyd.

[356] In June 2024, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published a report about an electronic computer manufacturing facility leased by Apple in 2015 in Santa Clara, California, code named Aria.

[357] Following further campaigns by Greenpeace,[361] in 2008, Apple became the first electronics manufacturer to eliminate all polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and brominated flame retardants (BFRs) in its complete product line.

[388] In April 2019, Apple initiated manufacturing of the iPhone 7 at its Bengaluru facility, keeping in mind demand from local customers even as they seek more incentives from the government of India.

[410] The majority of industrial labor disputes (including union recognition) involving Apple occur indirectly through its suppliers and contractors, notably Foxconn plants in China[411] and, to a lesser extent, in Brazil[412] and India.