Apple's stock faced downward pressure on January 10th following a report from analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who projected that iPhone shipments for 2025 would fall short of Wall Street expectations. Kuo's analysis indicated that Apple's iPhone shipments could decline by 6% year-over-year in the first half of 2025, despite the anticipated launch of the new iPhone SE4. The report highlighted concerns over Apple's market share in China, where iPhone shipments reportedly dropped by 10-12% in December 2024 compared to the previous year. Kuo also noted that the upcoming ultra-thin iPhone models, which are expected to support only eSIM, may face challenges in the Chinese market, where traditional SIM cards are still prevalent.
The analyst's report further suggested that Apple's estimated iPhone shipments for 2024 and 2025, ranging between 220 million and 225 million units, are below the market consensus of 240 million units or more. This cautious outlook, coupled with the lack of evidence that Apple's on-device AI, Apple Intelligence, is driving hardware upgrades or services revenue, contributed to the negative sentiment surrounding the stock.
Apple (AAPL) shares closed at $236.85 on January 10th, down 2.41% from the previous close of $242.7. The stock experienced a high of $240.15 and a low of $233 during the trading session, with a volume of 58,293,813 shares, significantly above the average daily volume.