Apple has managed to (mostly) retain its position as the world's most valuable company for quite a while now. However, for the first time in the better part of a decade, Microsoft has challenged Apple's lead.

As reported by Bloomberg, Microsoft today caught up with and surpassed its competitor in terms of market capitalization, hitting a total valuation of $812.93 billion at around 1:05PM EST. This number exceeded Apple's market cap of $812.60 billion.

Obviously, the value of major tech companies like Microsoft and Apple changes all the time, and Microsoft probably won't retain its position for long (Apple has already retaken its place as of writing).

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It's worth noting that Microsoft's brief reign as the world's most valuable company wasn't necessarily a result of anything it did right.

Instead, it's likely that Apple's recent struggles with low demand for its latest iPhones are what caused the company's stock -- and thus, its market cap -- to slide. In other words, Microsoft may have (temporarily) won by default.

With that said, even though Microsoft is once again in second place, there's a good chance the tech giant will remain neck-and-neck with Apple for the foreseeable future. Microsoft has been pumping out quite a few well-received products as of late, including its Surface Headphones, and its Surface laptop-tablet hybrid device line-up.

If the company can continue to deliver in that area, maybe it will reach this milestone again; preferably on a more permanent level.

 

source