If You Invested $1000 In Apple When iMac Was Unveiled 25 Years Ago, Here's How Much You'd Have Now

Apple, Inc.'s AAPL Mac is its next-big revenue earner among product categories after the iPhone, accounting for roughly 7.6% of the total revenue in the March quarter.

Mac is Apple's line of personal computers currently comprises the following:

• iMac all-in-one desktop
• Mac mini standard desktop
• Mac Studio media-focused desktop
• Mac Pro professional production workstation desktop
• MacBook Air consumer laptop
• MacBook Pro professional laptop

Mac Takes The World By Storm: The iMac was announced by Steve Jobs in a keynote address on May 5, 1998. It was a major consumer product announced by Apple after Jobs returned to the helm after a power struggle with the company's board led to his exit in 1985.

Announcing the product on stage, Jobs said, "Today, I'm incredibly pleased to announce iMac our consumer product and iMac comes from the marriage of the excitement of the Internet with the simplicity of Macintosh."

He even derided rival offerings by stating that those available at that time were absolutely slow coaches with "pretty crummy" displays.

"What that means is they’re lower performance and they’re harder to use and most of them aren’t so plug-and-play and these things are ugly," Jobs said.

See Also: Everything You Need To Know About Apple Stock

iMac-Evolution: Apple's all-in-one desktop has gone through several changes over the years and here's the list of the previous iterations and their launch years:

• iMac G3: Aug. 1998
• iMac G4: Jan. 2022
• iMac G5: Aug. 2004
• Polycarbonate Intel Apple iMac: Jan. 2006
• Aluminum iMac: Aug. 2007
• Unibody iMac: Oct. 2009
• Slim Unibody iMac: Nov. 2012
• Retina iMac: Oct. 2014
• Apple in-house M1 chip-powered iMac: April 2021

Mean Machine:  The latest iMac iteration that was launched at the Spring Loaded event in April 2021 is powered by the M1 chip and is loaded with macOS Big Sur. The company promoted it as an extremely slim device that is just 11.5 mm thick with a side profile that practically disappears and weighs less than 10 pounds.

Among the other features are a perfectly poised stand, fast Thunderbolt ports, a power connector that attaches via magnet, an immersive 24-inch 4.5K Retina Display, a 1080p FaceTime HD camera, a studio-quality mic, and a six-speaker sound system. The mean machine has a starting price of $1,299.

The next iteration could come in as early as the second half of 2023, according to Bloomberg columnist Mark Gurman. He expects it to include the upcoming M3 processor made based on Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited's 3-nm technology, and have internal design changes.

Returns From Apple:  A $1,000 investment in Apple on May 5, 1998 — the day the first iMac debuted — would have fetched 4,348 Apple shares. The stock traded at an adjusted price of $0.23 on that day.

The same 4,348 shares would be worth $754,652 (based on Friday's closing price of $173.57). This would mean a return of 75,365% over 25 years.

Investors should be mindful that iMac may have contributed to only a small portion of Apple stock's appreciation. The returns do not include the dividends Apple may have paid periodically over the years.

In premarket trading on Monday, Apple stock fell 0.13% to $173.35, according to Benzinga Pro data.

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