Why Apple Stock Just Got Downgraded to Sell

Jefferies analyst Edison Lee cut his rating on Apple to Underperform—generally graded as a moderate Sell rating—from Hold. He also slashed his price target to $263.66 from $285.56, placing it among the lowest on Wall Street.

The downgrade hinges on the suspected cancellation of Apple’s all-glass iPhone. Although the project was reported to be in development as far back as 2025 and rumored to launch as early as 2027, Apple never commented on the speculation. However, the company quietly filed a patent application for a “six-sided glass enclosure” in 2019.

While Jefferies once viewed the release of an all-glass iPhone as plausible, Lee believes development has come to a halt. According to the analyst, supply-chain checks suggest the project was canceled due to “poor production yield.” This refers to the percentage of defect-free units successfully generated during manufacturing.

Lee views the decision as “a major setback to efforts to bring in higher-priced iPhones amid soaring memory costs.” Had it launched in September 2027 to commemorate the iPhone’s 20th anniversary, the device would have carried an estimated blended retail price of $2,060—higher than the average price of any previous model.

“More importantly, we believe the plan was to extend the all-glass features to future iPhone Pro and Pro Max models, further raising their average selling price and margin,” Lee wrote. He believes an all-glass model would have been a crucial defense against soaring memory costs, warning that Apple otherwise faces lower prices for years to come.

In the same breath, the analyst provided a conservative outlook on both Apple’s AI strategy and component costs for the iPhone 19 Pro Max, which is slated for release in 2027. Other supply-chain checks suggest that Apple is considering an upgrade for the iPhone 19 Pro Max, potentially increasing its memory to 16 gigabytes from 12 gigabytes.

In Lee’s view, the slow rollout of Apple Intelligence makes it difficult for Apple to justify the expense of equipping its phones with more memory. Extra RAM is needed to run complex AI models directly on a device.

Apple shares dropped 1.5% on Monday as the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite COMP -0.32% index fell 0.3%. Heading into the session, Apple had gained over 15% in 2026, marginally outperforming the index.

The stock’s momentum stalled last month when underwhelming fiscal third-quarter earnings triggered a selloff that erased $359 billion in market capitalization, allowing Nvidia  NVDA -2.86% to overtake Apple as the world’s most valuable company.

Lee isn’t the only analyst to sour on Apple stock in recent weeks. KeyBanc analyst Brandon Nispel downgraded shares to Underweight from Sector Weight in July, arguing that Apple’s growth was beginning to stall following a boost in 2025. Sluggish iPhone sales could drag down other hardware categories, Nispel wrote, making the stock look “too expensive” over time.

Even with this recent shift in sentiment, Wall Street hasn’t lost faith in Apple. Of 51 analysts surveyed by FactSet, 32 rate the stock a Buy or the equivalent. Fourteen maintain a Hold rating, while just five—Lee and Nispel included—have issued a negative opinion on the shares.