Apple sued by shareholdrs, accues of lying about AI progress — causing iPhone sales, stock to slump

Core Viewpoint - Apple is facing a proposed securities fraud class action lawsuit from shareholders who allege that the company downplayed the time required to integrate advanced AI into its Siri voice assistant, which negatively impacted iPhone sales and stock price [1][4]. Group 1: Lawsuit Details - The lawsuit claims that shareholders suffered potentially hundreds of billions of dollars in losses in the year ending June 9, when Apple introduced several product features but kept AI changes modest [1]. - Shareholders, led by Eric Tucker, assert that during the June 2024 Worldwide Developers Conference, Apple suggested that AI would significantly enhance the iPhone 16, but the company lacked a functional prototype of AI-based Siri features [4][5]. - The lawsuit names CEO Tim Cook, CFO Kevan Parekh, and former CFO Luca Maestri as defendants [2]. Group 2: Impact on Stock and Market Value - Since reaching a record high on December 26, 2024, Apple shares have lost nearly one-fourth of their value, resulting in an approximate loss of $900 billion in market value [6]. - The decline in stock value began to be evident on March 7 when Apple announced delays for some Siri upgrades until 2026, which continued to disappoint analysts during the recent Worldwide Developers Conference [5][6].