What Happened?
Shares of iPhone and iPad maker Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) fell 3.2% in the afternoon session after data from research firm Canalys revealed the company (AAPL) is losing dominance in China. The data revealed that iPhone shipments in China fell 17% to 42.9 million units in 2024, pushing Apple down to third place in market share. The decline was partly blamed on the lack of artificial intelligence features in new iPhones. This weak print is significant for Apple since China accounted for roughly 17% of its total sales in fiscal year 2024.
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What The Market Is Telling Us
Apple’s shares are quite volatile and have had 17 moves greater than 2.5% over the last year. In that context, today’s move indicates the market considers this news meaningful but not something that would fundamentally change its perception of the business.
The previous big move we wrote about was 14 days ago when the stock dropped 3.2% on the news that UBS cut its iPhone sales estimates for Q4 2024. Analyst David Vogt expects iPhone revenue to fall 5%, year on year, below consensus expectations. Separately, there are reports that Apple will be offering discounts to customers in China from January 4 to 7, 2025, amid heightened competition, further dampening the sales outlook.
Apple is down 6% since the beginning of the year, and at $229.24 per share, it is trading 11.5% below its 52-week high of $259.02 from December 2024. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of Apple’s shares 5 years ago would now be looking at an investment worth $2,909.
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