At the end of August, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) surpassed its 2012 highs on growing anticipation for the release of its next generation smart phone, the iPhone 6.

Last Sunday marked the third anniversary of the passing of Steve Jobs. In remembrance of Apple's iconic CEO and co-founder, Tim Cook, Apple's current CEO, shared some thoughts with company employees on the memory of their former boss.

In this post, we share our thoughts on the trading action for AAPL since the September release of the iPhone 6. Now that the news of the product launch is behind us, and the fervor over the newly unveiled iWatch has also simmered down, we can take a moment to step back and get some perspective on how the market is assessing the stock.

Take a look at the weekly chart for AAPL below:

AAPL is still trading near its 2012 highs and holding above the key $100 level for now. Although the bears have been successful in knocking the stock down from its early September peak near $104, the bulls have resisted further selling pressure and continue to buy on dips.

As observed by the blogger Trader Moe in a recent post, AAPL appears to be trading in a price channel. Today's close above $100 on pervasive strength in the markets following the favorable reaction on Wall Street to the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting minutes lends credence to the idea that AAPL may be headed toward its price channel highs.

+DMI is still above -DMI on the weekly chart so the bulls remain in control, though the predominant trending move higher may soon be exhausting itself as the ADX is not rising. A range trade is thus in play for the time being.

Conclusion

A close above $103 on the weekly candle would be especially bullish, as AAPL has not been able to close above this level on the intermediate time frame. A weekly close below $98 support would not be in the best interest of the bulls and could strengthen the bears.

Looking back, AAPL is up about 55% since the beginning of the week of 8/12/13, when Carl Icahn disclosed his stake in the company through a tweet to the masses. At the time, AAPL was trading at a corresponding price of just over $65 a share.

It remains to be seen if the iPhone 6, with its notably bigger screen, will propel AAPL to an even bigger market valuation and new all time highs. Perhaps Icahn has some more tricks up his sleeve. He seems to have alluded to it, at least.