Inflation remains high.
In view of large cost increases in areas such as energy or food, consumers now have to think twice about how much money they still want to spend on consumer electronics.
Various budgets are also being reconsidered in companies – including in the IT sector.
Accordingly, the prospects for the PC industry have deteriorated, which was reflected in the disappointing forecasts of some chip manufacturers.
Apple, too, has to live with these challenges - especially as the Chinese government's "zero-Covid" strategy and supply chain problems around the world continue to weigh on market sentiment.
As a result, the iPhone company instructed its suppliers to abandon plans to increase production of the new iPhone models, according to a Bloomberg report.
Most recently, reports even made the rounds that the American company would throttle the production of its iPhone 14 Plus smartphone, which was only released two weeks ago.
The website "The Information" had reported that an Apple supplier from China had been instructed by the company to stop production of a component of the iPhone 14 Plus while the company would assess the demand situation in the meantime.
This fits with earlier reports that Apple fans would grab the slightly more expensive iPhone Pro Max model and leave the entry-level iPhone 14 Plus.
Apple pushes the expansion of new business areas
This shows once again that the tech group is still dependent on smartphone sales.
But there are also voices on the market who take a relaxed view of this.
Citi analyst Jim Suva, for example, sees indications that production of the iPhone 14 is still on track and that expectations of a production of 90 million units of the smartphone in the second half of 2022 could be met.
He also says that mixed news related to iPhone production isn't uncommon at this time of year anyway.
Apple should also continue to benefit from the fact that many users still have to purchase 5G-enabled smartphones.
At the same time, the company is pushing ahead with conquering new business areas.
This has included the various services for some time.
The group can easily sell these to those billions of users who are, so to speak, “trapped” in the Apple universe and own one of several devices such as the iPhone, iPad or Apple Watch.
The further development of the Apple TV+ streaming service is also important in this regard.
In this respect, the sponsorship of the mega-sports event Super Bowl and the alleged interest of Apple in certain broadcasting rights for the games of the football league NFL play a very important role.
All in all, a long-time Apple shareholder shouldn't worry too much about the iPhone group despite the difficult situation at the moment.
Price setbacks were often cheap entry opportunities
This is also shown by looking at the chart history.
After Apple's price tripled between March 2020 and January 2022, the stock went into consolidation mode.
After collapsing to $129 by June, it briefly rose to $176 in August, after which prices retreated until mid-October.
In the meantime, the price has been able to recover somewhat at times.
If the recent price recovery continues, the focus could soon be on the 200-day moving average, which runs at $158.
If they are recaptured, the next price target will be the recent record high from January of this year of around $183.
As the price development since March 2020 has shown once again, it can be worthwhile to sit out setbacks or to use them to get a cheaper entry.
This is also proven by the long-term course history.
The temporary price setbacks were often severe for the share, but were usually quickly made up for, which was followed by new highs.
This price pattern has been in place since 2003, when the overarching stock uptrend that continues to this day began.
Since then, listings have risen an average of 37 percent a year.
The ten-year result is still impressive, with an average annual increase of 20 percent.
The stock market is likely to be eagerly awaiting the current figures for the past quarter, which the group will publish on October 27,