No matter how great a company is, even the most successful product eventually matures and declines with the passage of time as rivals angle for a piece of the market your innovation created. A case in point is Apple’s iPhone,

In China, Apple’s second largest market, iPhone sales fell 18% in the December ending quarter, according to Bloomberg.

Apple faced two downgrades ahead of earnings, with analysts citing weak iPhone demand. China continues to be a headwind for sales.

Phone growth in the U.S. and the rest of the world offsets softer sales in China, Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives says.

Doug and Lee examined Apple's decreasing stock performance, pointing out as main causes of investor unhappiness dismal iPhone 16 sales in China, AI losses, and criticism about the company's lack of recent innovation.