Apple's Options Volume Rise as iPhone Maker Trails Mag 7 Peers
$Apple(AAPL)$
Shares of the iPhone maker has tumbled about 5% since the start of the year, outpacing the 1.5% decline for $Microsoft (MSFT.US)$, 1.3% for $Meta Platforms (META.US)$, 0.8% for $NVIDIA (NVDA.US)$ and $Tesla (TSLA.US)$. By contrast, $Amazon (AMZN.US)$ jumped 6.4%, while $Alphabet-A (GOOGL.US)$ advanced 4.9%.
Apple shares have fallen amid concerns over rising memory chip prices as surging demand from artificial intelligence drive shortages. Worries over rising production cost for iPhones and Macs came at a time when investors were weighing the company's revenue outlook.
The decline in Apple's share price meant the iPhone maker has now been unseated by $Alphabet-A (GOOGL.US)$ as the second-largest company by market capital. Apple now ranks third, with $NVIDIA (NVDA.US)$ remaining in the lead even as the company that dominates the market for advanced chips that power AI workloads struggles to eke out a gain this year.
Earlier this week, JPMorgan analysts including Samik Chatterjee flagged in a note to clients that "softer than seasonal revenue trends" in Apple's App Store persisted in December.
That "could lead to moderate risk to services guide" for Apple's fiscal first quarter, the JPMorgan analysts said, citing data tracked by Sensor Tower. "Looking across the monthly data, December marked a continuation of trends from November, with sequential revenue growth tracking softer than seasonal. "
App Store downloads increased 1.7% in the fourth quarter of 2025, slowing from a gain of 2.3% in the third quarter, the analyst said.
Almost 900,000 Apple put and call options changed hands as of 2 p.m. in New York Friday. That's higher than the 10-day average volume of 643,935 contracts.
Implied volatility, which reflects the market's expectations of the stock's potential price changes by measuring variables including option premiums, was at 28%, hovering near the highest since November.
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