Will a $1,000 phone deliver a $1 trillion company?

cupertino — At around $830 billion, Apple Inc’s stock market value on the day of its newest iPhone launch towers over its next-largest rival and has Wall Street asking: Will it be the first listed company to crack the Big T?

If history is any guide, the unveiling on Tuesday of the iPhone X — the 10year anniversary edition of Apple’s ubiquitous device — signals that the $1 trillion milestone could well be breached within the year.

Apple shares on average have gained around 33 per cent in the year following each of its previous iPhone launch events, dating back to the first one on Jan 9, 2007. It has gained in the following year after seven of the 10 announcements while falling in three. From their current level, Apple shares need to gain roughly 20 per cent to sport the world’s first 13-digit market cap. (Some analysts and the Saudi royal family have pegged global oil giant Saudi Aramco’s value at $2 trillion or more, but there will be no public record to confirm that until after its initial public offering next year.)

Of the 38 Wall Street analysts covering Apple, two already have price targets for the stock that see it driving above the $1 trillion level.

Brian White of Drexel Hamilton, whose $208 price target for the shares is highest on the Street and would equate to a $1.075 trillion market value at the current number of shares outstanding, came away from Tuesday’s event convinced the company’s stock has further to run.