Apple faces pressure, stock plummets as Apple Intelligence upgrade stalls

Wall Street is losing patience with Apple. While other tech giants are racing into artificial intelligence and showing off data centers packed with Nvidia chips, Apple hasn’t said much. That silence is starting to cause real concern. Investors want details. They’re not getting any.

As of Tuesday, Apple stock had fallen more than 15% in 2025. Among the so-called Magnificent Seven, it’s the second-worst performer, only Tesla, down 20%, has done worse.

And unlike Microsoft or Google, Apple hasn’t made any big AI announcements this year. According to CNBC, some analysts are warning that this delay in strategy could eventually slow iPhone sales.

Apple delays Siri upgrade while OpenAI builds new devices

The company’s plan to release a more powerful Siri has been pushed back. It won’t arrive until at least 2026. This delay comes right after Jony Ive, the former Apple design chief who helped build the original iPhone and Watch, sold his startup IO to OpenAI for $6.5 billion.

Sam Altman, OpenAI’s CEO, said his company is already developing new AI-powered hardware with that team. No timeline has been shared yet, but Altman confirmed they’re actively building.

While OpenAI moves ahead, Apple’s direction is unclear. That’s exactly what has people like TD Cowen’s Krish Sankar worried. In a note on Monday, Krish wrote, “The incomplete AI strategy is still the biggest overhang, but we think Apple still has approximately 1.5 years to effect a compelling solution.” He still recommends buying the stock, but that vote of confidence doesn’t erase the growing concerns.

On Thursday, the company will report its fiscal third-quarter results. But don’t expect much talk about AI. The focus will likely stay on the $40 billion in iPhone revenue expected for the quarter, according to FactSet. The services division is projected to hit $26.8 billion in revenue, growing 11%, which is twice as fast as the company’s total growth.

So yes, Apple is still making money. And yes, people are still buying iPhones, Macs, and Watches. But that’s not a future strategy. Apple missed its shot last summer.

The company introduced Apple Intelligence, a set of features that included AI tools to summarize emails and texts, generate custom emoji, and visually update Siri. But the more advanced version of Siri, the centerpiece of the update, was delayed.

That delay killed hopes of a new upgrade cycle. Analysts had expected a rush of buyers looking for the latest AI tools. That spike in sales didn’t happen.

Google, OpenAI, and others outpace Apple in AI devices

The hardware game is shifting. Most people who bought a new iPhone last year didn’t do it for AI. A poll by Consumer Intelligence Research Partners found that 89% of people who upgraded chose Apple again, but only 13% did it for new features. Most were just replacing worn-out devices.

Even Apple knows things are changing. Eddy Cue, the company’s services boss, said in court earlier this year, “You may not need an iPhone 10 years from now, as crazy as it sounds.”

That warning is starting to look real. Google is integrating Gemini, its AI assistant, deep into Android 16. Users can now control apps like Maps and YouTube by voice. They can even generate to-do lists based on YouTube videos. Siri can’t do that yet. Google CEO Sundar Pichai said on Alphabet’s latest earnings call, “I still expect phones to be at the center of the experience for the next two to three years at least.”

OpenAI might be the real threat. With Jony on board, they’re working on devices that don’t look like phones at all, things like wearable pins, smart glasses, and other screenless tools. Meta has already released Ray-Ban smart glasses. OpenAI hasn’t announced what its product will look like or when it will be ready, but it’s in motion.

The situation mirrors what happened in 2007. When Apple introduced the first iPhone, it sold just 1.4 million units in the first year.

That was nothing compared to the 435 million phones sold by Nokia. Four years later, Nokia was collapsing, and Apple was selling over 80 million iPhones a year. Now, OpenAI is building a new type of device, and this time, it’s Apple that could get left behind.

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