Apple Inc. shares fell sharply — by about 5%, their worst daily performance since April — after reports of delays to Siri’s AI update and a warning letter from federal regulators. The drop wiped roughly USD 200 billion off the iPhone maker’s market value amid growing concerns about the company’s AI strategy and political pressure from the Donald Trump administration.
Siri’s challenges deepen
According to Bloomberg, Apple has run into problems testing its redesigned Siri voice assistant, forcing the company to roll out new features over several software updates rather than all in March as planned. Internal testing has shown Siri sometimes fails to process requests correctly or responds slowly. Some features have now been pushed back to iOS 26.5, expected in May, and more may arrive with iOS 27 and the next iPhone in September.
Apple first unveiled its AI-powered Siri at its 2024 developer conference, promising that the new personal assistant would use user data to carry out complex tasks across apps.
Analysts remain positive
Despite recent volatility, several Wall Street analysts remain positive on Apple shares. Evercore ISI reiterated its “Outperform” rating and USD 330 price target, expecting Apple Intelligence features to roll out in stages during the year. Bernstein analyst Mark Newman raised his price target from USD 325 to USD 340, saying “the bigger story is the rollout of Apple Intelligence and Siri 2.0 at some point this year.” In his view, Apple’s hybrid AI architecture and the earnings power of its services business are more important drivers than the timing of Siri’s launch, and the company has outperformed rivals thanks to its ecosystem advantages and bargaining power with suppliers.
