Apple Analyst Flags iPhone AI Struggles, Google Deal Risks

Apple Inc AAPL stock is trading lower Tuesday after MoffettNathanson analyst Craig Moffett downgraded Apple from Neutral to Sell and lowered the price target from $202 to $188, citing iPhone 16 models with artificial intelligence features failing to gain traction and geopolitical tensions with China.

Additionally, Alphabet Inc’s GOOG GOOGL Google deal to pay Apple over $20 billion annually to make its search engine the default on iPhones is threatened by an antitrust lawsuit against Google. UBS’s David Vogt recently slashed the iPhone sales forecast for December, citing dwindling market share in China.

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Apple’s smartphone sales in China dipped to 15.6% in the third quarter, while Huawei posted a 42% jump. Both companies offered discounts to reach a broader customer base.

Meanwhile, Apple remains invested in scaling its News app and improving advertising effectiveness, seeking growth from the publishing industry.

The iPhone maker is targeting new countries with the platform, which reaches about 125 million people every month in the U.S., Canada, the UK, and Australia, according to the Financial Times, which cited familiar sources.

The company also considered expanding its curated news coverage to the UK and adding its puzzles section exclusive to the U.S. and Canada.

The app is part of Apple’s product bundling and services business, including Apple TV+ and Apple Pay.

Apple launched the News app almost a decade ago, and it has gained considerable influence over the reading material of tens of millions in the most prominent Western countries.

David Higgerson of Reach UK regional newspaper described the News app as the front door to everyone’s iPhone, the FT reports.

Apple News has emerged as the top news app in most of the countries in which it has a presence.

In the UK, Reach’s publication, the Mirror, has an average monthly audience of about 4.5 million readers from Apple News. The figure gets crucial as media groups have been hit by plunging digital revenues and readership following Meta Platforms Inc’s META news coverage policies and changes to Google’s algorithms.

In 2024, Google retained cookies in Chrome, allowing advertisers to continue using cookies for targeted ads. Reportedly, ~40.9% of websites worldwide use cookies to collect user data.

Sean Cornwell of Immediate Media told the FT that he won “significant business through Apple News.”

Apple News+ has grown from 300 publishers at its launch five years ago to about 450 publishers globally.

Apple News’s success has invoked debate in the media industry, divided between those eying a large global audience and others seeing it snatching readers and revenues.

Publishers fear Apple cannibalizing potential subscribers.

Price Action: AAPL stock is down 0.45% at $243.92 at last check Tuesday.

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