Recently, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission released a document showing that Apple CEO Cook sold more than 220,000 Apple shares, cashing in about 353 million yuan.

Currently, the market is still divided on the demand outlook for the new generation of Apple phones. Some are optimistic about the new AI functions provided by Apple's artificial intelligence (AI) system, Apple Intelligence, while others have highlighted the "red light" that demand for new phones is weakening.

Cook sells more than 220,000 Apple shares

Cashed out 353 million yuan

Recently, a document disclosed by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) showed that Apple CEO Tim Cook sold 223,986 shares of Apple stock, cashing in a total of US$50.276 million (approximately RMB 353 million).


For Cook, this reduction is not uncommon. In October 2023, Cook sold a total of 511,000 shares of Apple, with a market value of approximately US$87.8 million, and after-tax income of US$41.5 million. This was his largest sale in the past two years. In addition, Cook also sold a large number of Apple shares in April 2024, earning approximately US$16 million.

According to foreign media reports, earlier this week, Cook received about 219,500 more Apple shares. Among them, 54,870 shares will be gradually unlocked in 2027, 2028 and 2029 at a ratio of one-third, and another 164,620 shares will be performance-based shares, which will be unlocked on October 1, 2027.

Cook holds more than 3 million shares of Apple as of early 2024. The unsold shares are worth more than $500 million, and stock grants make up the bulk of his compensation package.

On October 5, Cook wrote on Weibo to remember Jobs: Steve showed us that the future is not something that can be waited for, but something that we create ourselves. Whether at Apple or elsewhere, his memory will live forever in the hearts of innovators and dreamers around the world.

Market still divided on the demand outlook for the next generation of Apple

Financial report data shows that in August this year, Apple disclosed its financial report for the third quarter of fiscal year 2024 (i.e. the second quarter of the natural year). In this quarter, the company achieved revenue of US$85.777 billion, a year-on-year increase of 5%; net profit was US$21.448 billion, a year-on-year increase of 8%.

Apple expects fourth-quarter revenue growth to be similar to the third quarter, with service revenue growing by "double digits" in the fourth quarter, and expects gross margin to be between 45.5% and 46.5% in the fourth quarter.

According to foreign media reports, the market is still divided on the demand outlook for Apple's new generation of iPhones. Some are optimistic about the new AI features provided by Apple's artificial intelligence (AI) system, Apple Intelligence, and expect them to drive the upgrade cycle, while others have turned on the "red light" of weakening demand for new phones. The latest warning is from Barclays.

Barclays analysts revealed in a report released on Tuesday that they had completed an investigation into the iPhone supply chain and found that Apple may have cut iPhone 16 production in the quarter ending December this year due to lower-than-expected demand, and suppliers of key components had significantly cut orders.

The Barclays report maintained its underweight rating on Apple and lowered its target price for Apple to $186, one of the lowest target prices currently given by analysts, a sharp drop of about 20.2% from the previous target price of $233.

This week, Citigroup also lowered its iPhone sales forecast for the quarters ending September and December, but raised its expectations for the quarters ending March and June 2025.

Citi said that with the release of Apple Intelligence in the United States in late October and the possible launch of a major update to Siri next year, Citi still believes that consumers will upgrade their iPhones in 2025 with the launch of iPhone 17. Consumers may wait and see before upgrading their iPhones to see how Apple Intelligence affects their daily interactions with their phones.

JPMorgan Chase Research pointed out that Apple's AI function did not drive sales growth of the series of mobile phones as expected. As the AI ​​function gradually supports more regions, consumer demand for it is expected to grow. JPMorgan Chase expects Apple to sell 76 million iPhones in the fourth quarter of 2024.

Everbright Securities' previous research report believes that the iPhone 16 series AI is more dependent on OS upgrades, and all hardware upgrades may not be intuitive for ordinary consumers, but for loyal Apple fans/consumers with strong demand for changing phones/experiencing AI functions as soon as possible, it still promotes the replacement of phones. In addition, although Apple Intelligence is currently a free experience for OS updates, it is not ruled out that a paid subscription model may be launched in the future after user habits are gradually formed, which will open up long-term development space for Apple's service business.