Apple Shares Slide In Monday Premarket: What's Souring Sentiment?

Shares of Apple, Inc. AAPL moved sharply lower in premarket trading on Monday, with a slew of factors weighing down on them.

Preorders for Apple’s latest iPhone iterations began last Friday and an early tally by some analysts does not paint a positive picture. TFI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said in a social media post late Sunday that iPhone 16 preorders were 37 million units, down 12.7% from the iPhone 15 first-week preorders. The year-over-year drop is due to lower-than-expected demand for the iPhone 16 Pro series. The analyst based his data on the latest supply chain survey and pre-order results from Apple's official websites.

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Kuo noted that the soft Max series demand is due to the fact that Apple Intelligence, the major selling point, is not available at launch. He also pointed to intense competition in China, especially from Huawei and other home-grown rivals.

Also, data from China, Apple’s key market, on Saturday showed the economy is still struggling with softness, and this along with competition could pressure the company’s sales in the region.

Some of the weakness may have to do with the across-the-sector negativity, with investors fearing that a Federal Reserve rate cut could stall the tech rally as they shift their investment dollars into underperforming, small-cap stocks.

In premarket trading, Apple lost its flavor and fell 1.93% to $218.20, according to Benzinga Pro data.

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