Apple Stock Posts Worst Day In 10 Months On AI Setback, Regulatory Heat

• Apple stock dropped 5% on Thursday and a further 0.5% in the after-market session.
• Shares have long underperformed amid AI rollout delays. 
• Stocktwits sentiment for AAPL declined over the past week, and was ‘bearish’ as of Friday. 

Apple Inc. shares closed down 5% on Thursday, their steepest decline since early April, after reports said the company had once again delayed its long-awaited AI upgrades to Siri and was facing a regulatory review of Apple News.

Bloomberg reported, citing sources, that the Siri update had run into snags during testing in recent weeks, delaying its rollout. 

AI Rollout Hits Another Speed Bump 

Apple had reportedly planned to roll out the new features with iOS 26.4 in March, but is now expected to stagger them across later updates, potentially pushing some to iOS 26.5 in May and even iOS 27 in September, according to the report. 

FTC Raises Questions On Apple News Curation

Meanwhile, the Federal Trade Commission approached Apple with a warning that the company’s Apple News product may violate federal law, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.

In a letter to CEO Tim Cook, FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson said that reports, including one from the non-profit Media Research Center, have raised concerns that Apple News promotes articles from left-wing outlets and suppresses articles from more conservative publications.

The FTC said Apple should conduct a review and ensure that curation in Apple News is consistent with those terms and representations made to consumers.

The AI Overhang Persists

For Apple investors, the delayed rollout of AI features — including the revamped Siri - remains the biggest overhang. Despite strong quarterly results, driven by solid iPhone 17 demand and a rebound in China, the stock has stayed muted.

Apple stock is down 3.7% year-to-date. It rose 8.6% over 2025. The company’s market capitalization hovered above $4 trillion in December and briefly again last month before dropping to $3.84 trillion.

Retail Traders Call It An ‘Overreaction’

On Stocktwits, retail sentiment for AAPL has dropped to ‘bearish’ as of early Friday, from ‘neutral’ at the start of the week, with members sounding perplexed about Thursday’s selloff.

“The drop is ludicrous and won’t last,” said one user. “I’m initiating a new long options position tomorrow. The Siri issue is a non-issue. Siri has never done squat for Apple. So even if the new version is a failure, so what? Apple doesn’t depend on Siri; it never has. And the FTC letter is even more of a non-issue for Apple’s bottom line. Easy buy of heavily discounted long options. We see a new 52-week high within 1-2 weeks max. I’m banking on it—literally.

Analyst Ratings Show Cracks In Big Tech Consensus

The long-time underperformance has now come to weigh on analysts’ views. Currently, 29 of 47 analysts rate the stock ‘Buy’ or higher, 16 rate it ‘Hold’, and two rate it ‘Sell’ or lower, according to Koyfin. That’s the highest number of ‘Hold’ and ‘Sell’ ratings among Big Tech stocks, including Meta, Microsoft, Alphabet, and Nvidia.

For updates and corrections, email newsroom[at]stocktwits[dot]com.

Read Next: AI Networking Winner? Arista Surges After Blowout Quarter, Outshining Cisco

Share

·

Add us on