Apple Inc. (AAPL) has underperformed in 2025 so far, with its stock down over 20% year-to-date and even lower at certain periods. While Magnificent Seven stock members like Microsoft (MSFT) and Meta Platforms (META) are up year-to-date, Apple (AAPL) is the worst performer among the stock grouping. An uncertain US economy amid tariff threats and recession concerns has harmed most of the market. However, AAPL is certainly one of the heaviest affected, as it relies heavily on operations and imports from abroad.

Apple has been under threat by the new US presidential administration since Trump’s return to office. This month, Trump took to the Truth social media platform and warned Apple that the firm would have to pay a 25% tariff if its American market iPhones are not built in the US. Trump said, “I have long ago informed Tim Cook of Apple that I expect their iPhones that will be sold in the United States of America will be manufactured and built in the United States, not India, or anyplace else,” he said.

Apple (AAPL) Continues To Grow Abroad

Meanwhile, Apple has been expanding its reach abroad in fear of returning tariffs and to spread its operations. The company’s aggressive manufacturing India strategy, backed by Foxconn’s massive $1.5 billion investment, could be the key driver that pushes AAPL stock out of its recent rut. However, there are other factors weighing Apple (AAPL) shares down compared to Mag-7 competitors.

Also Read: Apple’s Expansion in India Defies Trump: Is $250 AAPL the Next S

The seven magnificent companies in the US have raced into the Artificial Intelligence (AI) sector. AI has been a promising avenue for revenue and growth in the tech industry, and several companies have already captured their share of the market. Microsoft has embedded generative AI into Office, Windows, and Azure. The Windows developer is also working on the next frontier, agentic AI. Meanwhile, Google has rolled out Gemini across just about all of its products, and Meta is pivoting from the metaverse to machine learning. All the while, Nvidia’s chips have become the mainstay leader powering the AI industry.

However, Apple was late to the AI party. The iPhone developer finally unveiled Apple Intelligence, a suite of AI-driven features and a Siri revamp powered by ChatGPT, last year. But since Apple joined AI late and largely relied on a partner rather than its own breakthrough, Apple Intelligence hasn’t performed as well. With this area having so much time and funding dedicated to it and not returning revenue as strongly yet, Apple investors have gotten worried. This, in turn, has kept AAPL shares from climbing out of their hole. With a new launch hopefully coming this fall, perhaps Apple Inc. could see its stock rebound, but for now, times are tough.,