Apple's stock races ahead as investors bet on new iPhones

San Francisco

A YEAR ago, many investors had given up on Apple, whose stock price had fallen more than 30 per cent from its 2015 peak. Apple's once-unstoppable growth had come to a crashing halt: The number of iPhones sold was down 13 per cent, and the company posted its first revenue decline in 13 years.

Today, Apple's business remains sluggish, but that has not stopped investors, including the famously tech-averse Warren Buffett, from falling in love with it again. Shares of the tech giant - the most valuable company in the US by market value - have repeatedly hit new highs this year. On Friday, they closed at US$143.65, up nearly 60 per cent from last May's trough.

What's driving the stock, sceptics and fans alike say, is hope - hope that the new iPhones due in September, on the 10th anniversary of the original iPhone's introduction, will be dazzling enough to inspire existing iPhone users to upgrade and prompt others to switch from Android phones made by Samsung, Huawe…