Apple angst
Shares of the tech giant tumbled this week on worries about a China crackdown on iPhones. Will next week's iPhone 15 reveal event get the stock back in green?
Confession. My iPhone is ancient. It should be in a museum. It’s an iPhone 8 Plus.
It was a technological wonder when I bought it…six years ago. But a lot has changed since 2017. Now, my iPhone is semi-functional at best. The battery drains more rapidly than a hungry cheetah chasing down a gazelle on the African savanna. The charging port is borked, which has forced me to buy a wireless pad to ensure the battery doesn’t completely go kaput. The screen is cracked and often slow to respond, despite my numerous daily cleanings/wipes of the device.
But I like the home button! And I’m a busy, lazy parent who’s had more pressing priorities than getting a new phone. Also a little paranoid (in a Luddite Gen Xer sort of way) about whether all my music, apps and other features that I’ve downloaded in the past half dozen years will seamlessly transfer to another device. The thought of having to add back hundreds of albums (yes I still listen to entire albums in the order the artists intended them to be heard as opposed to singles or playlists) fills me with anxiety.
All that said, I am excited for Apple’s presumed iPhone 15 reveal event that is happening on Tuesday September 12. I probably will head to my nearest Apple or Verizon store soon after that and FINALLY trade in my antediluvian phone for a new one. But will I be the only one?
Shares of Apple have tumbled more than 5% this week, in part due to a lack of enthusiasm about the upcoming iPhone 15 release. Rumor has it that there won’t be any truly revolutionary new features, design changes or other major enhancements. Reports of a Chinese crackdown on the use of iPhones by government officials aren’t helping either. Several analysts have cut their ratings, price targets and/or earnings estimates recently too.
All that said, Apple is still a red hot stock this year. Shares are up nearly 40% in 2023. Despite concerns about weak demand for iPhones, iPads, Macs and other gadgets, the company’s services division (think about all those subscriptions to Apple TV, Music and other monthly charges) is posting healthy gains in revenue.
Is the stock still a good long-term iBuy? Probably. Apple continues to sit on a mountain of cash, with a whopping $166.5 billion on its balance sheet. The company also pays a healthy dividend that it has tended to steadily increase. Sure, Apple’s shares aren’t exactly cheap. trading at about 29 times earnings estimates for next fiscal year. But Warren Buffett still loves Apple. The stock is, by far, the largest Berkshire Hathaway holding.
So even if I’m one of the few who’s genuinely excited to see what the new iPhone 15 looks like — maybe they’ll bring back the home button? Heh! — it seems that Apple’s stock might be a tempting one to scoop up on weakness, especially if the shares tumbles further after the (possibly anticlimactic) iPhone reveal.