24/7 Wall St. Insights
- Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) investors and iPhone 16 customers are waiting for the iOS 18.1 launch.
- If the launch falls short of expectations, the value of the shares is in peril.
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Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) investors got excited about the artificial intelligence (AI) features that would run on the iPhone 16, which was first announced at the Worldwide Developers Conference in June. However, the major AI features will not be available until the release of iOS 18, Apple’s operating system, in October. That caused some anxiety. Would people buy an iPhone 16 released in September if the main AI features were unavailable until a month later?
The enthusiasm for iOS 18 has faltered. While Apple’s stock is up 17% this year, it has underperformed the market, which is higher by 19%. If iPhone 16 sales were extraordinary, or its anticipated AI features were likely a leap forward, the stock would have done better.
Two things have kept Apple’s stock down. First, there is no evidence that the AI in iOS 18 is a leap forward compared to the AI products from competitors like Microsoft, Amazon, or Alphabet.
Second, iPhone 16 sales did not spike as iPhone releases usually do in September when new models are released. CNN recently reported, “Apple sold just an estimated 37 million units in the first weekend of iPhone 16 pre-sales, down more than 12% compared to the same period last year, according to a blog post from Ming-Chi Kuo, an Apple analyst with TF International Securities.” The figure could be flawed. No one outside Apple management has accurate figures. However, the sentiment is that the lack of iOS 18 has hurt iPhone sales. And, perhaps, worrying that its AI features are mundane is another drawback.
The new iOS 18, also known as iOS 18.1, will be available in a few weeks. The expected release date is October 28. However, that is speculation.
Investors are waiting for October 28 (if that date is correct). If iOS 18.1 falls short of expectations, the value of Apple’s stock is in peril.
Prediction: Apple Turns Rotten in October
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