Apple was founded on April 1, 1976, and on its 50th birthday, its legacy is defined by groundbreaking products. The Apple II (1977), with its plastic case and keyboard, became the first mass-market computer, generating sustained revenue. In 1984, the Macintosh introduced the graphical user interface (GUI), priced at $2,495 (nearly $8,000 today), revolutionizing personal computing with icons, windows, and a mouse-driven interface.

The 1990s saw Jobs' return via NeXT, leading to the colorful iMac in 1998, which revitalized the brand. The 2000s brought the iPod and the iPhone, the latter combining a phone, iPod, and internet device in 2007—a product now nearing 3 billion units shipped. The 2010s saw the iPad, Apple Watch, and AirPods dominate wearables and tablets, while the 2020s focused on Apple silicon Macs, boosting performance-per-watt.