Apple shares rose more than 7% to a record high, nearly retaking Microsoft as the world's most valuable company a day after announcing new AI capabilities to revive demand for the product.

Tuesday's rise comes as Apple is behind the S& P 500 in 2024, owing to slowing iPhone sales and Wall Street fears that the firm is falling behind other technological giants in the fight to dominate future AI technologies.

PHOTO | COURTESY Apple

Apple's shares rose 7.3% to close at $207.15.

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Apple's market capitalization was $3.18 trillion, trailing only Microsoft at $3.22 trillion and slightly ahead of AI chip giant Nvidia at $2.97 trillion.

All three are competing to become the world's most valuable firm.

In January, Microsoft's market worth surpassed Apple's. Last week, Nvidia momentarily outperformed Apple in terms of value.

PHOTO | COURTESY Apple 

Apple unveiled an improved Siri virtual assistant at its annual developer event on Monday that can answer a broader range of questions and perform more complex tasks than previous versions. It also unveiled several AI features in its apps that will be included with the latest operating systems for iPhones, iPads, and Mac computers.

After the developer event, at least 13 analysts upped their price forecasts for Apple's stock. Some predicted that the fresh features would spark new sales as the firm prepares to launch a new line of iPhones in the autumn.

"Apple is demonstrating that it is invested in evolving its platform and devices to enable the next era of computing, interfaces and experiences," Gartner analyst Tuong Nguyen said.