The ranks of companies whose stock market value exceeds one trillion dollars is not particularly long, but it just got one name longer.
Samsung, the South Korean conglomerate that makes everything from refrigerators to semiconductors to the Galaxy line of smartphones, has crossed that threshold, joining a rarefied group that includes Apple, Microsoft, Nvidia and a handful of others. The achievement comes at a moment when the technology sector's fortunes remain closely tied to investor enthusiasm for artificial intelligence, an area where Samsung has been making significant bets.
Speaking of Apple, the company that made Cupertino a place people can find on a map has agreed to settle a lawsuit for $250 million. Under the terms of the settlement, customers in the United States who purchased an iPhone 15 or iPhone 16 between June 2024 and March 2025 can receive up to $95 per device.
(The phrase "up to" is doing considerable work in that sentence, as it often does in such announcements.)
The settlement is the latest in a series of legal accommodations Apple has reached over the years, a cost of doing business at the scale the company operates. For consumers who qualify, the payment represents a modest rebate on devices that retail for considerably more than $95 — though whether most eligible customers will navigate the claims process remains, as always, an open question.
The contrast between the two pieces of news is notable mostly for what it says about the current moment in consumer technology. Samsung ascends to a valuation that would have seemed fantastical a generation ago. Apple writes a check that, for a company of its size, amounts to what might be found between the cushions of a very expensive couch.
The market, as they say, moves on.
Original story published in campaignlive.com: "The Social Skinny: Samsung hits $1 trillion market value; Apple settles $250 million lawsuit | Campaign US"