For the first time since January 2022, Apple's market capitlisation exceeded $3 trillion on Friday as investors placed bets on the iPhone maker's capacity to increase sales even as it forays into new areas like virtual reality.

Apple, which is also the most valuable publicly traded business in the world, saw its shares rise 1.3 percent in morning trading to $191.99. As things stand, Apple's market cap is higher than India's GDP.

On January 3, 2022, during intraday trading, Apple's market capitalisation momentarily surpassed $3 trillion before the session ended barely below that threshold.

According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, the valuation is a reflection of Apple’s constantly growing ecosystem. “The Tim Cook dream is that consumers spend their days on an iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch and, one day, Vision Pro, and then subscribe to services like iCloud and Apple Music across all the devices. In the evenings, they may kick back on the couch, streaming Apple TV+ and renting iTunes movies via an Apple TV box,” he said in his latest newsletter.

Moreover, services like CarPlay, savings accounts, the Apple Card, health tracking, iMessage and more make it hard for customers to not come back for more. And that, he says, is what makes investing in Apple exciting.

The latest gains in Apple shares come as technology stocks rebound on bets that the Federal Reserve may be slowing its pace of interest rate hikes as well as on the buzz around artificial intelligence.

Apple's better-than-expected iPhone sales during its second quarter and the introduction of new products, including an augmented-reality headset called the Vision Pro in June, highlight the tech giant's resiliency in an uncertain economy.

Currently, four other US companies have a valuation of more than $1 trillion — Alphabet Inc, Microsoft Corp, Amazon.com Inc and Nvidia Corp.

Apple shares have jumped nearly 46 percent this year, while those of Tesla and Meta Platforms have more than doubled.

A near 180 percent gain in shares of Nvidia in 2023 has catapulted the chipmaker into the trillion-dollar club.

(With inputs from Reuters)