On Tuesday, President Trump's first trading day in office, U.S. stocks generally rose, but Apple bucked the trend and fell, falling as much as 4.6% during the session. Apple's rating was downgraded by two Wall Street analysts and its price target was lowered by one analyst. In addition, data shows that Apple's iPhone sales in China declined by 18.2% year-on-year in the fourth quarter.
The following are the latest negative statements from Wall Street institutions regarding Apple:
- Jefferies downgraded Apple's rating to Underperform, making it a rare Wall Street firm to give Apple a rating equivalent to a sell. Only 8.5% of analysts gave it a bearish rating, while about 63% gave it a rating equivalent to a buy. Jefferies also lowered its price target for Apple from $211.84 to $200.75.
- Loop Capital downgraded Apple's rating to "hold" from a "buy" rating with a target price of $230.
- While JPMorgan analysts maintained their "overweight" rating on Apple, they lowered their price target from $265 to $260, citing caution about the company's prospects.
Jefferies analysts led by Edison Lee pointed out:
In the world's largest mobile phone market,The iPhone's poor sales performance was not driven by the hype surrounding artificial intelligence.The company's revenue for the first quarter of 2025 is unlikely to meet expectations and may not reach the expected 5% revenue growth in the first quarter of 2025. Apple's guidance for the March quarter may also be disappointing.
Lee also lowered his expectations for iPhone 17/18 due to the slowdown in the adoption and commercialization of artificial intelligence, adding that Apple's AI prospects appear bleak.
Analysts also pointed out that iPhone and overall consumer electronics sales were weaker than expected.
JPMorgan analysts' concerns include:
The dollar is strengthening, while market demand for Apple products is limited.
Given current artificial intelligence capabilities, sales of Apple products are flat.
Demand in China is weak.They expect Apple to continue losing market share in China because the company has passed the peak of its product cycle.Moreover, Apple's high-end mobile phone models cannot enjoy local government subsidies for mid-to-low-end mobile phones.
According to the latest data from Counterpoint, smartphone sales in China fell by 3.2% year-on-year in the fourth quarter of 2024, making it the only quarter in 2024 to experience a year-on-year decline. In the fourth quarter, Huawei topped the market share list, followed by Xiaomi and Apple. Facing fierce competition from Huawei and other Chinese mobile phone brands expanding in the high-end market, Apple ranked third in the fourth quarter of 2024 with a market share of 17.1%.Apple's iPhone sales in China fell 18.2% year-on-year in the fourth quarter.
According to data released by market research firm Canalys, smartphone shipments in India fell by 4% to 37.2 million units in the fourth quarter of 2024. Among them, vivo maintained its lead with 7.5 million units shipped and a 20% market share, followed by Xiaomi and Samsung with 5.7 million and 5.4 million units respectively. OPPO (excluding OnePlus) and Apple made it into the top five with 4.2 million and 4 million units respectively, with Apple entering the top five for the first time driven by aggressive promotions and holiday demand.
On January 20, the national subsidy for mobile phones was officially launched.Currently, most of Apple's main models are eligible for government subsidies, including the iPhone 15 and iPhone 16.A consumer ordered an iPhone 16 with 256GB of memory through national subsidies, priced at 5,499 yuan. Compared to the US market,The iPhone 16, after national subsidies, is the lowest priced in the world, making it Apple's most attractive model.In addition, some netizens discovered that after the national subsidy, the 128GB version of the iPhone 13 costs only 2,999 yuan, a record low. According to estimates, driven by national subsidy policies, domestic mobile phone sales are expected to reach 300 million units this year.
Analysts say Apple's rating downgrade further indicates that weak iPhone sales are increasingly causing concern among investors, who believe that artificial intelligence (AI) has failed to play the expected role as a growth catalyst.
Earlier this month, Ming-Chi Kuo of TF International, the analyst who knows Apple best, said that Apple will face more severe challenges this year, including almost stagnant iPhone growth, lack of contribution from AI services, and continued shrinkage of its China business. Ming-Chi Kuo believes the market is overly optimistic and there is a risk of a decline in stock prices. When Ming-Chi Kuo expressed his pessimism about Apple, Apple's stock price was around $236.
As of Tuesday's close, Apple fell 3.2% to close at $222.64. Since 2025, Apple's stock price has fallen by 11%.On Tuesday, Apple's market capitalization was surpassed by Nvidia, losing its title as the world's largest company by market capitalization.
There was no good news from the "Oracle of Omaha on Capitol Hill". Pelosi recently made large-scale trades in US tech giant stocks, buying call options on Google and Amazon.However, selling Apple and Nvidia。 On the last trading day of 2024, she sold 31,600 shares of Apple common stock, with transactions ranging from $5 million to $25 million, making it her largest transaction in the past month.
In addition, Wall Street Insights learned from the supply chain that Apple's foldable phone batteries will be made of all-steel shell material, and there will be two pieces. Apple's foldable phone will be launched in the third quarter of 2026. Currently, preliminary preparations have begun for the supply chains in mainland China and Taiwan.
Apple will release its earnings report after the U.S. stock market closes next Thursday, January 30.
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