Apple CEO Tim Cook speaks during Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference at Apple Park in Cupertino, California, United States, Monday, June 10, 2024.
David Paul Morris | David Paul Morris 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 fell 17% year-on-year. Meanwhile, Vivo and Huawei posted strong growth.
Apple’s main supplier TSMC announced its first-quarter smartphone sales forecast on Thursday, which is expected to drop nearly 6% from the previous quarter. 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, which have been its largest business.
Famous Apple supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo on Monday wrote He expects iPhone shipments to fall 6% year-on-year in the first half of 2025, with most of the decline occurring in the second quarter. Kuo wrote that he doesn’t think Apple Intelligence, an artificial intelligence system the company has yet to launch in China, has boosted iPhone demand.
“There is no evidence that Apple intelligence has the ability to benefit the hardware replacement cycle or the services business,” Kuo wrote.
Apple will announce December quarter results on January 30.
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