The tech giant’s market cap dipped below $2 trillion on Jan. 3 for the first time since May 2021, one year to the day after it became the first publicly traded Silicon Valley company to be valued at $3 trillion.
Shares of Apple Inc. were down 3.7 percent, over news regarding weakening consumer demand for its products.
The sell-off wiped out $85 billion in market value for the smartphone maker.
Like the other big tech companies, Apple has been faced with supply chain difficulties and recession fears, which have taken a toll on advertiser and consumer spending.Nikkei Asia reported on Jan. 2 that Apple was seeing weaker demand, specifically for some of its most popular devices like MacBooks, AirPods, and Apple Watch.
The company had allegedly notified several suppliers to make fewer parts for those items in the first quarter.
“Apple has alerted us to lower orders for almost all product lines actually since the quarter ending December, partly because the demand is not that strong,” a manager at an Apple supplier told Nikkei Asia.
Analysts are also concerned about the popularity of Apple’s new products and the difficulty it faced with its iPhone 14 shipments during the key holiday shopping season after pandemic-related disruptions at its main supplier in China.Lockdowns in China Hit Apple’s Holiday Earnings
Apple said it experienced “strong demand” for iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max devices but expected lower shipments than anticipated due to the Chinese regime’s lockdown restrictions.The company faced reduced manufacturing output from its Chinese factories, which led to a backlog in orders.
