Source: Golden Ten Data
iPhone shipments have declined sharply, causing investors to worry. However, Apple may find new opportunities in the field of AI.
According to the latest data, iPhone shipments fell sharply in the first quarter. This pair$Apple (AAPL.US)$This is unwelcome news for investors.
However, if it works on artificial intelligence, it probably doesn't matter. The slump in iPhone sales this year is well documented, which is why Apple's stock price fell by about 9% in 2024.
International Data Corporation (IDC) data for the first quarter shows the extent of Apple's weakness. iPhone shipments fell 9.6% year over year to 50.1 million units, the biggest year-on-year decline among the top five smartphone brands. This made Samsung once again number one in mobile phone shipments, and Apple previously occupied the top position for the whole of 2023.
Apple's global market share fell more than 3 percentage points to 17.3% as its Chinese rivals made progress and consumers in the region switched to cheaper local alternatives.
Although Samsung shipped 60.1 million units in the first quarter, ranking first, this figure is slightly lower than last year, and its market share dropped by more than 2 percentage points. “Yes, the iPhone is underperforming. But as soon as we see announcements about artificial intelligence being applied to new iPhones, people will be willing to put the sluggish sales aside,” Jeff Marks, director of portfolio analysis at the Club, said at Monday morning's meeting.
Wall Street believes Apple will announce the news at the World Developers Conference (WWDC) in June. Apple's stock price fell after IDC data was released. Prior to the release of the report, the stock rose 4.3% on Thursday, the biggest one-day gain since May last year, and rose nearly 1% last Friday, although it was dominated by technology stocks$Nasdaq Composite Index (.IXIC.US)$It fell 1.6% amid a general sell-off in the market.
Perhaps it's not surprising to see some profitable settlements at the start of the new week. However, with other big tech stocks$Alphabet-A (GOOGL.US)$,$Amazon (AMZN.US)$,$Meta Platforms (META.US)$,$Microsoft (MSFT.US)$und$NVIDIA (NVDA.US)$Compared to that, Apple has always lagged far behind.
Wall Street celebrity Jim Cramer also advised investors to be “patient” and “hold rather than trade” Apple shares despite these negative factors in overseas markets. He also said that the iPhone's artificial intelligence integration may drive the next upgrade cycle and help Apple get back on track in terms of sales and poor stock performance.
$JPMorgan (JPM.US)$It said that iPhones that support artificial intelligence may bring updates similar to when 5G was first applied to iPhone 12 in October 2020.
Bloomberg reported last week that Apple is preparing to use an artificial intelligence-focused M4 chip in new Mac laptops, further showing signs of optimism from Apple. Jim Cramer said on Thursday that investors “need to be confident that this (management) team will have great stuff.” Although Apple has yet to confirm this report, Jim Cramer speculates, “If they can put these AI chips on Macs, then they can do that on iPhones.
Editor/jayden