Why Is Apple Stock Going Down in 2025?

$Apple(AAPL)$ has been facing a flurry of headwinds, both macroeconomic and company-specific.

On the macro side, President Donald Trump’s tariffs on China are a big concern as they will raise Apple's costs. So far, Apple hasn’t won any reprieve, and unless it passes on the higher costs to buyers, the tariffs will shave off its gross margins.

And passing higher costs to buyers is easier said than done. Firstly, U.S. consumer spending has been tepid and is expected to slow down further, which would limit Apple’s ability to hike prices. Secondly, iPhone 16 adoption has not been to the scale that many bulls would have hoped for, and raising prices might hurt sales further.

Apple’s China business is another casualty of the escalating trade war. Chinese consumers have been pivoting to domestic brands – whether it comes to cars or gadgets – and the trade war is not helping.

On a company-specific level, the rollout of “Apple Intelligence” features has been quite delayed. Most recently, the widely awaited Siri upgrade has been delayed. Delayed Apple Intelligence updates could further dampen iPhone sales, and analysts have been slashing their estimates for 2025 shipments.