Fueled by reports of lackluster iPhone demand and fears of a general downturn in the smartphone market, Apple’s share price has been spiraling downwards in recent weeks. Since the beginning of November, the company’s share price dropped by more than 18 percent, shaving $200+ billion off the company’s market capitalization.

Less than four months after becoming the first trillion-dollar company in U.S. corporate history in August, Apple even lost the unofficial title of being the world’s most valuable company for a brief period on Wednesday. And it was Microsoft of all companies that dethroned the Cupertino-based tech giant.

Apple had overtaken its old foe in terms of market capitalization in 2010, when Microsoft was struggling with slow PC sales and Apple was riding a wave of success in the wake of the iPhone’s launch in 2007. In recent years, however, under the leadership of Satya Nadella, Microsoft successfully pivoted, reducing its dependency on Windows and becoming a leading player in the growing market for cloud solutions.

By the end of Wednesday’s trading session, Apple had reclaimed its position on top of the corporate world, but it’s just one negative report away from falling behind in the rivalry dating back as far as the early 1980s.

source: statista