Apple stock slid about 5% on Thursday after reports said the company would ship key AI upgrades for Siri later than investors expected. The move pushed AAPL toward its steepest one-day decline since April 2025 and reversed much of its recent rise.
AAPL stock price closed at $261.73, down $13.77, after trading between $260.18 and $275.72 during the session.
Trading volume reached about 81.1 million shares, according to Apple’s investor relations data.
Some market analysts estimated that the drop wiped roughly $200 billion from Apple’s market value in one session. The sell-off also tracked a broader retreat in large-cap tech shares.
Market attention centered on the timing of Apple’s ‘Apple Intelligence’ rollout and a more capable Siri assistant. Bloomberg reported that Apple ran into new issues during internal testing of the Siri upgrade. Engineers then pushed key elements into later software versions.
People familiar with the work told Bloomberg that Apple had aimed to ship the first wave in iOS 26.4, an update the company targets for March 2026. The report said Apple now targets iOS 26.5 in May 2026 for some features, while others may wait for iOS 27 in September 2026.
This timeline matters because investors treat Siri as a visible test of Apple’s AI execution. Apple also integrates external models for some tasks, including OpenAI’s ChatGPT. Reports have also described work with Google’s Gemini models.
The Bloomberg report described a staged release rather than a single launch date. A staged approach can reduce bugs in live software. It can also leave some promised capabilities unavailable for months, depending on the device and iOS version.
Apple has framed privacy and data protection as core constraints for its AI features. That emphasis can shape how the company trains models, where it runs them, and how it uses personal data. Reuters reported in March 2025 that Apple had already delayed some AI improvements to Siri until 2026.
Investors now watch for clues in Apple’s developer cycle. iOS beta releases often reveal which Siri features have made it into a build. WWDC in June 2026 could also set expectations for Apple Intelligence updates that land in later iOS releases.
The Siri timing concerns arrived as Apple faced new scrutiny from U.S. regulators over its Apple News app. Reportedly, Federal Trade Commission Chairman Andrew Ferguson sent Apple CEO Tim Cook a letter that raised concerns about accusations of political bias in Apple News curation.
Ferguson wrote that the FTC lacks authority to require ideological curation. He also warned that Apple could face exposure under the FTC Act if its practices conflict with its terms of service or reasonable consumer expectations. Apple did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment.
The letter did not announce enforcement action. Still, it added a new risk headline as investors processed the Siri schedule shift. Together, the AI delay report and the regulatory letter helped drive the sharp move in Apple stock.
Market participants will monitor Apple’s next software milestones and any company statements that narrow the Siri AI release window over the coming weeks and months.