JPMorgan Chase Downgrades Apple to "Underweight," Stock Price Falls 0.97% in Pre-market Trading

August 10, J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. on Monday downgraded Apple (AAPL.O) from 'Neutral' to 'Underperform' and lowered the price target from $285.56 to $263.66, implying a downside of approximately 16% from Friday's closing price. At the time of writing, Apple's stock price was down 0.97% in pre-market trading.

Analyst Edison Lee noted in a report to clients that the planned 20th-anniversary all-glass iPhone has been canceled due to poor yield rates. The model was initially estimated to have a blended retail price of $2,060, and Apple's broader plan is to "extend the all-glass feature to future iPhone Pro and Pro Max models to further increase their average selling price and profit margin."

This move is seen by J.P. Morgan as a 'significant setback' for Apple's strategy of driving higher-priced iPhones amid soaring memory costs. As a result, J.P. Morgan has revised down the annual compound growth rate of iPhone's average selling price for fiscal years 2026 to 2031 from 9.0% to 6.8% and lowered the earnings per share forecast for fiscal year 2028 by 2.1%.