Apple has worst day since August, down 11% from December peak

Apple The stock closed down 4% on Thursday, its worst day since August 5, after several reports of lackluster iPhone sales in China.

The iPhone maker’s stock price is down nearly 12% from its most recent peak in December, and is the worst performer of the seven biggest tech stocks so far in 2025.

The slide comes after a report on Thursday by Canalys, a market research company, which suggested that Apple had fallen to third place in terms of smartphones sold in China in 2024, behind home manufacturers Vivo and Huawei.

Apple shipped 15% of the 284 million phones sold in China last year, according to the report, but that was down 17% on an annual basis. Vivo and Huawei, meanwhile, saw strong growth.

TSMC, a key supplier to Apple, on Thursday reported a smartphone sales forecast for the first quarter that suggested a sequential drop of nearly 6%. TSMC, which makes the chips at the heart of Apple’s devices, attributed the drop to seasonality. TSMC said AI chips made up more than half of its revenue in the fourth quarter, replacing smartphones, which had been its biggest business.

Notable Apple supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo on Monday he wrote which expects iPhone shipments to decline 6% on an annual basis in the first half of 2025, with most of the decline occurring in the second quarter. Kuo wrote that he believes that Apple Intelligence, the company’s artificial intelligence system that is not yet available in China, is not driving iPhone demand.

“There is no evidence of Apple Intelligence’s ability to take advantage of hardware replacement cycles or service business,” Kuo wrote.

Apple reports its December quarter results on January 30.

WATCH: Apple correction for fundamentals, iPhone 17 updates expected, says Morgan Stanley’s Woodring