Apple (AAPL, Financial) shares fell more than 4%, marking their largest single-day decline since August of the previous year. This drop coincides with reports highlighting weak iPhone sales in China. Apple’s stock has now decreased nearly 12% from its recent high in December of the previous year, placing it among the seven worst-performing tech stocks of the current year.
A report released by market research firm Canalys indicates that Apple has slipped to third place in China’s smartphone market for 2024, behind local manufacturers Vivo and Huawei. Apple sold 15% of smartphones in China last year, totaling 284 million units, which is a 17% decrease year-over-year. In contrast, Vivo and Huawei saw robust growth in their sales.
As a key supplier for Apple, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) released its first-quarter forecast for smartphone sales in 2025, predicting a nearly 6% sequential decline. TSMC, which produces core chips for Apple devices, attributed this downturn to seasonal factors. Additionally, TSMC reported that over half of its fourth-quarter revenue came from AI chips, rather than the historically dominant smartphone segment.
Noted Apple supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has projected a 6% year-over-year decline in iPhone shipments for the first half of 2025, with the second quarter experiencing the sharpest drop. He noted that Apple's AI system, "Apple Intelligence," has not launched in China, failing to boost iPhone demand. Apple plans to release its fourth-quarter earnings report for 2024 on January 30, with investors closely watching to assess future performance.
