CUPERTINO, CALIFORNIA — Apple is celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2026. The company is valued at nearly $4 trillion and leads the global smartphone market.

The technology giant's transformation from near-bankruptcy to market dominance began in the late 1990s when Steve Jobs returned to the company. Steve Jobs returned to Apple in 1996. In 1997, Jobs regained control of Apple to try to save the company, which had been reporting consistently poor financial results before his return.

Glenn Reid worked at NeXT Computer with Jobs before joining Apple in 1998. Reid joined a team of about 20 people developing products for Apple without the rest of the company knowing. Reid, who became the architect behind Apple's video editing platform iMovie and the iPhoto app, covered the windows of his office to maintain secrecy while developing iMovie. "He reached out to me to build iMovie, and it was at a time when Apple was struggling, almost dead," said Reid, former Director of Engineering and Consumer Applications at Apple.

In 2001, Apple needed someone to help build a device to support its six-month-old iTunes music platform. Tony Fadell was called to consult on a new project for Apple. At that time, Fadell was working on MP3 players and handheld electronics.

In March 2001, Fadell presented a weighted styrofoam model to Steve Jobs and other Apple executives that became the iPod. "A really, really amazing moment for me was the original iPod, just getting it done. It was a nine-month project from start to finish. It was my dream," said Fadell, Senior Vice President of the iPod division at Apple. The iPod initially did not achieve success but gained popularity after Apple introduced Windows compatibility and other features.

Fadell spent nearly a decade at Apple as the senior vice president of the iPod division and an advisor to Jobs. Apple released the iPod Nano as one of the iterations of the iPod, and celebrities such as Shaquille O'Neal used the device.

Apple considered product ideas such as digital cameras and televisions but did not move forward with them before developing the iPhone. The company introduced the iPhone in 2007 and is now on the 17th generation of the device. "The original iPhone fell out of my pocket in an airplane seat before it was ever shown. Thank God, but I literally lost it. That was a really scary moment," Fadell said.

The secretive culture that characterized Apple's product development reflected Jobs's philosophy. "It's better to be a pirate than join the Navy," Jobs said during a 1983 meeting. Reid recalled the environment: "It was that kind of an environment, and it was cool because you don't get an opportunity like that very often." Tim Cook is the chief executive officer of Apple.