Can New Operating System Restart Apple’s Stock?

By Douglas A. McIntyre Published Sep 16, 6:45AM EDT

Follow 24/7 Wall St. on Google

This post may contain links from our sponsors and affiliates, and Flywheel Publishing may receive compensation for actions taken through them.

Can New Operating System Restart Apple’s Stock? — © PeskyMonkey / Getty Images

24/7 Wall St. Insights

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL | AAPL Price Prediction) stock moved little after the launch of the iPhone 16.
Will the release of the AI-powered iOS 18 make a difference?
Also: Discover the Next Nvidia.

Investors are not very impressed by the Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPhone 16. Shares moved very little after the launch of the latest version of the company’s flagship. The stock is up less than the S&P 500 this year, although not by much. Those who own the stock need another catalyst. All that Apple has left to stir the market is its new operating system called iOS 18.

The iPhone 16 had a few modest upgrades over the iPhone 15. It is made of titanium, has a more powerful processor, and has an improved display. Apple says it has a better camera. Many people won’t spend money to get what are very modest improvements.

These modest improvements leave iOS 18 as the reason to get consumers to upgrade by the tens of millions. Some experts believe Apple should not have released the iPhone 16 without it. Selling an underfeatured product is hard.

iOS 18 has to be a home run. It launches today.

iOS 18 will allow people to organize photo libraries. It will sort emails using AI. Owners can sort images and create languages. It will make Apple’s underpowered voice-driven Siri work better. Siri will have access to ChatGPT. (People can download ChatGPT without iOS 18, and millions of people already have.)

Does iOS improve the mediocre state of Apple’s stock? It is not likely.

Prediction: Apple Turns Rotten in October

About the Author Douglas A. McIntyre →

Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.

McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.

His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.

TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.

McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.