Jefferies Downgrades Apple Stock on Cancelled Premium iPhone Design

Jefferies downgraded Apple's stock to Underperform from Hold and cut its price target to $263.66, citing a canceled premium iPhone design that could weaken Apple's ability to push prices higher.

The analyst, Edison Lee, mentioned that the all-glass iPhone planned for 2027 was scrapped due to manufacturing yield problems, which is a major setback to Apple's premiumization strategy.

This development comes as Apple acknowledged higher costs, including memory, and Jefferies consequently cut its fiscal 2028 and 2029 earnings-per-share estimates by 2.1% and 3.4%, respectively.