iPhone’s Standalone Business Worth More Than All But 8 Companies in the World

The Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) iPhone is worth $209B of our estimated $391B value for Apple, which would make the iPhone one of the largest standalone companies in the world.

We estimate that the iPhone accounts for 53% of Apple’s stock value and assign a price estimate of $418 for Apple, which is about 40% ahead of its current price.

Remember, the iPhone is only 3 years old, a toddler born June 29, 2007. To put this in perspective, the iPhone as a standalone business is worth more than all but 8 companies in the world.

Based on an idea sent to us by our friend Rob Ross, we made a list of the world’s largest publicly traded companies including Trefis estimates on those we cover. For companies we do not cover, denoted ‘NR’, we included the current market cap based on the current price (if above $100B).

So when will Apple surpass Exxon to become the most valuable business in the world?

For that matter, will the iPhone become the most valuable business in the world, behind only… Apple?

Largest Companies by Sector

Consumer: 8 of 9
The iPhone is bigger than the largest 8 including: Coca-Cola (138B), Pepsi (105B), Kraft (62B), Unilever (NR, 84B), Colgate (43B), Philip Morris (NR, 105B), Anheuser-Busch (NR,94B) and Nike (33B).

Only Procter & Gamble (243B) is worth more in our view.

Tech: 7 of 10
The iPhone is bigger than 9 of 12 largest tech companies including: Oracle (181B), Intel (151B), Cisco (136B), Siemens (NR, 99B), HP (130B), Texas Instruments and Google (204B).

Only Microsoft (262B), IBM (234B), and of course Apple itself, are bigger than the iPhone as a standalone business.

Energy, Metals and Mining: 6 of 9
BP (NR, 130B), Chevron (NR, 166B), Petrobras (NR, 144B), Vale (NR, 165B), Rio Tinton (NR, 130B) and barely Shell (NR, 201B) are smaller than the iPhone.

Only Exxon (NR, 349B), Petro China (NR, 225B) and BHP (NR, 236B) are larger than the iPhone as a standalone business.

Pharma: All of ’em
Pfizer (NR, 132B), Merck (NR, 106B), GSK (NR, 103B), Roche (NR, 126B), J&J (NR, 173B) and Novartis (NR, 128B) are all smaller.

Auto: All of ’em
All 6 of the largest automotive companies have less than 100B in market cap except for Toyota (119B) -Honda, GM, Ford, Nissan & Volkswagen.

Finance: All except 2
Only Chinese banks ICBC (NR, 265B) and China Construction Bank (NR, 229B) beat iPhone.

Among the rest, JP Morgan (NR, 208B) and HSBC (NR, 185B) come closest, followed by Citigroup (120B), Bank of America (164B), BNP, Goldman Sachs (86B), UBS (74B), Barclays, American Express (56B), Credit Suisse (53B), ING, Morgan Stanley (30B), Visa (38B), Deutsche Bank (51B), & Wells Fargo (NR, 141B)

Telecom: 11 of 12
Telefonica (NR, 110B), Verizon (90B), Deutsche Telekom (NR, 59B), NTT DoCoMo, Comcast (54B), Nokia (47B), France Telecom, China Unicom, Ericsson, China Mobile (NR, 201B) and Vodafone (NR, 140B).

Only AT&T (224B) is bigger than the iPhone as a standalone business.

Media: All of ’em
That means Disney (74B), Time Warner (174B), Sony, Vivendi, News Corp (52B) and Viacom (22B).

Retail: 6 of 7
The iPhone is bigger than every retailer except Walmart (242B).

That means the iPhone beats out the other top 6 US retailers including: Target, Amazon (48B), eBbay (41B), CVS, Walgreens and Home Depot (60B).

Industrials and Conglos: All of ’em
Berkshire Hathaway (NR, 197B) and GE (NR, 170B) come closest.

To see estimates on all of the companies we cover see our site.