So far in 2024, Apple's stock price has fallen by approximately 10.5%, which means that its weight in the S&P 500 Index has dropped to approximately 5.7%, a new low since June 2021. In comparison, in mid-2023, the weight once exceeded 7.7%.On Thursday, the U.S. Department of Justice launched a series of attacks, accusing Apple of violating antitrust laws. Apple's stock price plummeted by more than 4% that day, its worst single-day performance since August last year. Its market value "bleeded" US$110 billion in one day, and its performance was far worse than that of the U.S. stock market.
As of Thursday, U.S. stocks have risen for four consecutive days, with the S&P, Dow, Nasdaq, and Nasdaq 100 all hitting record highs.
The U.S. Department of Justice has accused Apple of using its monopoly in the mobile phone market to harm consumers, developers and rival companies, and to obtain "astronomical valuations." The entire iPhone ecosystem supports Apple's monopoly, and it does not rule out the possibility of seeking to split Apple's business. In addition, the media said that the European Union will investigate Apple and Google for charging fees by App developers and may impose heavy fines.
2024 will be a year full of challenges for Apple. In addition to the above-mentioned antitrust crackdowns from regulation, the market is also increasingly concerned about iPhone demand and Apple's relative lag in the AI race.
Just over ten days into the new year in January this year, Microsoft's market value surpassed Apple's and became the world's largest company by market value. At the same time, NVIDIA, which ranks C in the AI boom, has continued to rise in market value and is now approaching Apple step by step.
At the beginning of this month, Ming-Chi Kuo of Tianfeng International Securities, the analyst who knows Apple best, said that the previous market consensus for iPhone shipments in 2024 was 220-225 million units, which has now begun to be revised downwards and is moving closer to his previous prediction of 200 million units. If Apple fails to launch generative AI services this year that are better than market expectations, Nvidia's market value will most likely surpass Apple.