When Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne founded Apple Computer Company on 1 April 1976, they had no idea they were launching a company that would still be making headlines at its 50th birthday in 2026. To mark this milestone, two major American museums are opening exhibits so comprehensive they're drawing hundreds of visitors and early Apple figures alike.
The Mimms Museum of Technology and Art in Roswell, Georgia is debuting iNSPIRE: 50 Years of Innovation from Apple on 1 April, with more than 2,000 artifacts across 20,000 square feet, making it the largest public display of Apple products in the world. Roughly 330 people filled the museum on 21 March for a preview event featuring early Apple figures including Ronald Wayne and Randy Wigginton.
What makes these exhibits more than just nostalgia is their ability to connect the technology itself to the people who created it. Early employee Chris Espinosa recalled being 15 years old and working on an Apple I in a Palo Alto shop when Steve Jobs walked in and asked if he was any good, offering him a job right there. These are not dusty relics in glass cases; they are gateways to lived history.
The iNSPIRE exhibit highlights early computers, rare prototypes, original documentation and immersive installations inspired by Apple's most iconic products and campaigns, including displays of every model of key products like the iPod, iPhone and iPad, and an interactive installation that recreates the company's iconic iPod ads.
On the west coast, the Computer History Museum's Apple@50 exhibit runs from 11 March through 7 September 2026. The exhibition features rare artifacts, prototypes and historical materials illustrating key milestones in Apple's development from a small startup to one of the world's most influential technology companies. The museum invited Daniel Kottke, Apple employee number 12, who helped Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak assemble the first Apple I in 1976, to meet visitors and show off a replica Apple I computer that can run ChatGPT.
The Mimms Museum houses one of the most significant collections of Apple artifacts, alongside 250,000 other computing artefacts. Museum organisers emphasised that only a fraction of the full collection is currently on display, with plans to grow both the exhibit space and its offerings over time.
What's striking about these exhibits is not just what they show but what they reveal about technological change. Apple Computer was founded on 1 April 1976 with a radical idea: that powerful computing should be personal. Fifty years later, Apple stands as one of the most influential technology companies in history, shaping not only products, but culture, design, and how billions of people interact with technology every day. The journey from hand-built Apple I computers to touch-screen devices that fit in a pocket is more dramatic than any business story.
Apple and the Sydney Opera House recently announced a collaboration that ties into Apple's 50th anniversary celebrations, with the Opera House's eastern sails illuminated from 25 to 27 March with artwork created in the Procreate app on iPad by emerging Australian artists, with selected artworks projected onto the sails on 25 March at 8:30 p.m.
Beyond the museum exhibits, Apple kicked off celebrations for its 50th anniversary on 13 March with a special performance by 17-time Grammy Award-winning artist Alicia Keys at Apple Grand Central in New York City, delivering an incredible set of her timeless songs from the venue's iconic steps. Over the coming weeks, celebrations continue in the UK, France, Canada, Mexico, India, Japan, and Australia.
These celebrations matter because they remind us that technology is not inevitable. Apple's path from obscurity to dominance involved genuine innovation, calculated risks, and people willing to believe in something different. For visitors stepping into these exhibits, the past is not quaint or outdated; it is a mirror held up to the present, showing us how we got here.