Apple lost nearly $1 trillion in market cap
While 2021 was a year of all new technology records, 2022 was weighed down by the macroeconomic context, energy crunch, inflation and fears of recession. And the tech giants, who are generally very tenacious, have not escaped this crisis. Even Apple, which is doing well despite falling worldwide smartphone sales, has had a slump in market capitalization.
In early January 2022, Apple’s stock value rose and the company’s capitalization crossed the $3 trillion mark. Historic record! But conditions deteriorated rapidly throughout the year, even for Apple, leading to a plunging stock. And today, towards the end of 2022, Apple is flirting with $2 trillion. In other words, the company has lost nearly $1 trillion in market cap this year.
According to a screenshot shared by 9to5Mac (from Apple’s actions on Google), the Cupertino company’s capitalization will even temporarily be 2,000 billion dollars. Meanwhile, Patrick McGee, a correspondent for the Financial Times in San Francisco, relativizes by remembering that Apple is currently the only technology company that is still worth more than 2,000 billion dollars. Indeed, the current context is so difficult that even giants like Google or Microsoft have to reduce their spending. As for Facebook, it announced layoffs of 11,000 employees this year.
The market has closed and Apple remains the only technology group worth more than $2 trillion. pic.twitter.com/AF3ZYxjWmB
— Patrick McGee (@PatrickMcGee_) December 28, 2022
Apple, burdened by China?
Since Apple is focusing on the high-end smartphone market, it has been less affected by the decline in smartphone sales. Indeed, this decline mainly concerns mid-range or affordable devices, whose consumers have been more affected by the crisis. “Most of the declines came from emerging markets where lack of demand, rising costs and inflation hit consumers with lower incomes”explained Nabila Popal, IDC analyst, last October.
“Even though Chinese suppliers have suffered the most, all suppliers have been affected, including Samsung and Apple. Even though Apple was the only vendor to report positive growth this quarter, it still faces challenges as its growth has slowed in many markets, including China, due to the poor macroeconomic situation.”he added.
What really penalized Apple, though, were supply issues. Indeed, the Cupertino company has not escaped its confinement in China, which has had its iPhone production capacity reduced by the Foxconn company. And in a note released this week, the company TrendFronce said operations at its Foxconn factory in the Chinese city of Zhengzhou, which has been hit hard by COVID-19 since October, had not resumed at 70% production capacity.
iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max are affected
“Given this situation, TrendForce has corrected its forecast for total shipments of all iPhone 14 models in 2022 to 78.1 million units”, we also read in publications. Also note that Apple warned its investors and customers in November. In a statement, the company said: “The COVID-19 restrictions have temporarily affected the main iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max assembly factory located in Zhengzhou, China. The facility is currently operating at significantly reduced capacity. As we have done during the COVID-19 pandemic, we are prioritizing the health and safety of workers in our supply chain.”
In this press release, Apple also acknowledged that I will be producing the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max less than expected, and customer waiting times will increase. However, in the iPhone 14 series, it is these two models that focus on the novelties.
