Apple Has Worst Week Since 2022

By Douglas A. McIntyre Published Mar 18, 9:15AM EDT

Quick Read

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) stock had its worst week since November 2022.
Concerns about iPhone sales and delayed AI have dragged on the shares.

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.

Apple Has Worst Week Since 2022 — © Angela Kotsell / Shutterstock.com

Last week, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL | AAPL Price Prediction) shares had their worst week since 2022. They fell 11%, which was the most since November 2022. The stock is down 16% this year, while the S&P 500 is off by 6%.

Several concerns have hit Apple’s shares. The first is market share in China, which is the world’s largest smartphone market, with 1 billion units in circulation. The company has fallen behind Vivo, Huawei, and Oppo, each of which is based in China. These have artificial intelligence (AI) software features. Apple does not have advanced AI software in the Chinese market. Without success in China, Apple cannot do well worldwide.

Apple continues to delay its flagship AI product, even in the United States. Its Apple Intelligence was supposed to be released as part of iOS18, which was to be launched slightly after the iPhone 16 late last year. Axios reports, “Apple’s acknowledgment that AI enhancements to Siri are taking longer than expected has increased concern that the iPhone maker is falling further behind in what is shaping up to be a tectonic shift for the tech industry.” Even the company called this “embarrassing.” Every other major tech company has launched an AI version of some set of its products. Apple may end up a year behind most of the industry.

Apple also has to face the fact that users can download cutting-edge AI software from the App Store, including products from OpenAI and Elon Musk’s xAI. Each of these is considered state of the art and is upgraded every few months.

Questions about the upgrades of the iPhone 16, compared to the iPhone 15, have dogged Apple since its launch last September. This also has been an issue with the past several iPhone generations. The conventional wisdom about this weakness is that a slightly better camera and slightly faster processor would not bring in a rush of customers.

The Tech Companies That Could Dethrone Apple Within the Next Decade

Apple Stock

The stock continues to be a good long-term investment, at least if people look back five years. Shares are up 273%, while the S&P 500 is 146% higher. That spread drops considerably when the last year is the measure. Apple stock is up 23%, while the S&P 500 is 11% higher. The company is starting to lose its advantage over the benchmark by which the market is often measured.

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.