On Friday, September 20, 2024, Apple CEO Cook held the first day of in-store sales of Apple’s latest products at the Apple Store on Fifth Avenue in New York, USA.
Victor J. Blue | Bloomberg | Getty Images
apple The stock closed down 4% on Thursday, its worst day since August 5, following several reports of weak iPhone sales in China.
The iPhone maker’s shares are down nearly 12% from their latest peak in December, making it the worst performer among the seven largest tech stocks so far in 2025.
Market research firm Canalys released a report on Thursday saying that Apple has fallen to third place in terms of smartphones sold in China in 2024, behind local manufacturers Vivo and Huawei.
According to the report, Apple’s shipments accounted for 15% of the 284 million mobile phones sold in China last year, but it fell by 17% year-on-year. Meanwhile, Vivo and Huawei achieved strong growth.
Apple’s main supplier TSMC released its first-quarter smartphone sales forecast on Thursday, predicting a quarter-to-quarter decrease of nearly 6%. TSMC, which makes the chips at the heart of Apple devices, attributed the sales decline to seasonality. TSMC said artificial intelligence chips accounted for more than half of its revenue in the fourth quarter, replacing smartphones as its largest business.
Famous Apple supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo on Monday Wrote He expects iPhone shipments to decline by 6% annually in the first half of 2025, with most of the decline occurring in the second quarter. Kuo wrote that he didn’t think Apple Intelligence, the company’s artificial intelligence system yet available in China, had boosted iPhone demand.
“There is no evidence that Apple intelligence has the ability to benefit hardware replacement cycles or services businesses,” Kuo wrote.
Apple will announce December quarter results on January 30.
watch: Morgan Stanley’s Woodring says Apple adjusts on fundamentals, iPhone 17 upgrade expected
