2012 has been a tumultuous year for both Apple (AAPL) and its investors. The stock, once a darling of Wall Street, has fallen precipitously from its intraday high of $705.07 on Sept. 21; shares are down nearly 23% in three months (the stock is up 26.7% YTD).

The maker of the iPhone and iPad has experienced both highs and lows this year.

Apple's 2012 highlights include:

1. iPhone 5 Debut: Apple debuted its highly anticipated and widely speculated iPhone 5 to much fanfare. The tech giant sold a record-breaking 5 million iPhone 5 devices in its September opening weekend, with demand exceeding the company’s initial supply. According to Kantar Worldpanel ComTech, Apple now holds 53.3% of the U.S. smartphone market – the first time Apple has surpassed the 50% mark. Apple’s dominance with smartphone users in the U.S. can largely be attributed to sales of the iPhone 5.
2. Major Patent Win: Apple also decisively won its patent infringement suit against Korean competitor Samsung this summer. The

The relationship between the world’s great economic powers — the U.S., Europe and China — will be in transition in 2013, and changing political leadership is a big reason why, says Daniel Franklin, editor of The Economist magazine’s “The World in 2013."

The relationship between China's new leader Xi Jinping and President Barack Obama “is absolutely the crucial one now for global politics,” Franklin tells The Daily Ticker.

Related: U.S. Refuses to Label China a 'Currency Manipulator' but All Countries Manipulate Their Currencies

Franklin says both men need to keep U.S.-China trade flowing. China is the second largest trading partner of the U.S. Last year $503 billion worth of goods were exchanged between the two countries. 80% of those items were U.S. imports from China.

Franklin says both countries also need to work on resolving disputes between China and other countries over ownership of islands in the South China Sea. Many of those countries, including Japan, South Korea, Taiwan