GF Securities Downgrades Apple Stock Over iPhone 18 Pro Cost Hikes

GF Securities has downgraded Apple's stock from 'buy' to 'hold', citing lower-than-expected growth guidance driven by sharp cost increases for TSMC silicon wafers and memory chips. This could lead to a price hike of $200 to $300 on the upcoming iPhone 18 Pro.

The surge in global demand for artificial intelligence server infrastructure, alongside Gulf trade restrictions, has put severe inflationary pressure on DRAM and NAND components across the premium smartphone market. Competitors like Samsung, Xiaomi, Oppo, OnePlus, and Vivo have already instituted price hikes.

Qualcomm CEO Christiano Amon noted a shift in consumer preference towards lower-end premium devices or previous-year models due to memory inflation. Apple's CEO Tim Cook confirmed that unprecedented component costs are affecting gross margins across the company's Mac, iPad, and future iPhone product lineups.