Apple loses appeal as iPhone demand cools

Tim Long, an analyst at Barclays, said that weak iPhone sales, along with a lack of recovery in Macs, iPads and wearables, were the reasons for the financial institution to lower its price target on Apple shares to $160. Apple shares fell 4% in trading on January 2, 2024, after the information was announced.

Bloomberg previously reported that the Chinese government had issued unofficial guidelines banning state employees from using iPhones at work, although Beijing denied such a “ban.”

107251968 1686073397809 img 0456.jpg — The Vision Pro mixed reality headset is expected to be launched by Apple early this year.

According to statistics from Counterpoint Research, sales of the latest iPhone in the first 17 days of its launch in the mainland fell 4.5% year-on-year, with the Pro Max and Pro models falling 14% and 11% respectively.

Not only that, 2023 is also the first year that Apple will not launch a new iPad model, since the product was released in 2010. In early December, CNBC noted that all iPad models purchased online from Apple's website were "shipped" on the same day. This is a sign of falling demand as Apple often does not have enough supply to ship to consumers in such a short time.

In fiscal 2023 (ending in September), iPad revenue will fall 3.4% to $28.3 billion. In unit terms, tablet sales will plummet even more, by 15%, according to estimates by experts at Bank of America (BoA).

At the same time, Mac and laptop revenue fell nearly 27% to $10.2 billion, and was down 11% in unit sales.

Apple is still the market leader with a market capitalization of $3 trillion, but its competitors are increasingly attracting investors' attention, such as Nvidia, Meta or Amazon.

To increase revenue, Apple needs another hit product and waits for global smartphone/laptop demand to recover.

For now, Apple is planning to release its Vision Pro mixed reality headset early this year. This is a big test for the iPhone maker as the device costs up to $3,499. According to UBS, even if Apple sells 400,000 of these devices, revenue will only fall to about $1.4 billion - a very modest number.

Meanwhile, a December 20 report from Canalys predicts the PC market will return to 8% growth this year as users replace computers purchased during the pandemic and new models integrate artificial intelligence features.