Apple Stock Falls After iPhone 17 Event – Here’s What Wall Street Analysts Are Saying

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After Apple's highly anticipated iPhone launch event yesterday, Wall Street analysts are out with their takes on the matter. Out of the seven analysts tracked by Wccftech, five raised Apple's share price target while two left it unchanged. However, no analyst upgraded the share rating, as overall sentiment was simply careful praise about the firm instead of being 'awe-struck' in tune with the event's title.

BofA, Evercore & Melius Raise Their Apple Share Price Target Following iPhone 17 Launch Event

Starting with Bank of America, its analyst raised Apple's share price target to $270 from an earlier $260. Keeping a Buy rating on Apple's shares, he outlined that the new launches could allow Apple to "position itself to lead in delivering AI at the edge." While the stock dipped following the event, analyst Wamsi Mohan told investors not to read too much into it as, according to him, the stock has "recovered 30-60 days post event."

He added that the higher prices for the Pro model have influenced BofA's decision to increase Apple's price target since the Pro variant with 256 GB storage starts at $1,099 compared to $999 for the 128GB model last year.

Redburn analyst James Cordwell asserted that the iPhone 17 launch validated his firm's thesis of Apple "returning to being a hardware-led company and stock given the strengthening pipeline of products and the underappreciated ongoing pricing power in the iPhone." According to him, design was "front and centre" at the event and the new smartphones can lead to a year-over-year iPhone revenue growth of 4% during Apple's fiscal year 2026.

The revenue growth leading to revised fiscal year 2026 and 2027 EPS estimates of $8.24 and $9.05 influences Rothschild Redburn to increase its share price target to $260 from $230. However, it maintains the Neutral rating since "the stock already commands a 25x CY27 PE."

Investment bank UBS commented on the impact on Apple's Bill of Materials from the firm's decision to eliminate the 128GB base configuration. "While the list price of these two models increased relative to a year ago, Apple eliminated the 128G base configuration offered last year. Therefore, on a like-for-like storage configuration, iPhone pricing was effectively left unchanged relative to last year," writes analyst David Vogt.

Equalizing for storage, the decision means that the "iPhone pricing was effectively left unchanged relative to last year," says UBS. However, it adds that if the Base and Pro Max iPhones account for roughly two-thirds of the sales, then "pricing could be up roughly 3.5% YoY."

However, UBS keeps its $220 price target and Neutral rating unchanged as it notes that " As an offset, dropping the 128G storage configuration in 3 models (Base, Air, and Pro) could increase the blended iPhone BOM by around 1.5% - 2.0% slightly offsetting the uplift from price."

Like UBS, HSBC also stuck with a $220 share price target and a Hold rating for Apple's shares. Highlighting the iPhone 17 leaks, HSBC notes that the "iPhone 17 series is not different from market expectations as most of the innovation and specs were leaked beforehand."

However, the leaks do not mean that HSBC isn't impressed by the new product. Hardware innovation was in "every corner" of Apple's iPhone event, with the bank particularly impressed by the iPhone Air's thickness and the bump in the AirPods' noise cancellation capabilities.

Evercore's Amit Daryanani, who raised Apple's share price target to $260 from an earlier $250 and has rated the stock as Outperform, believes that the iPhone 17 lineup marks a "notable form factor change across the iPhone lineup beyond the iPhone Air, this alone could help drive an upgrade cycle for certain iOS users."

Calling the iPhone Air a "showstopper," he notes that the device "could be a “MacBook Air” moment for iPhones" particularly due to its $999 price tag.

Attributing the Pro iPhone 17 model's price increase to its higher storage, Daryanani concludes by sharing that the "long-awaited iPhone Air was announced today and we think this will be a new form factor design that could help reinvigorate Apple’s user base and be the start of a multi-year iPhone roadmap."

Ben Reitzes of Melius also raised Apple's share price target. He bumped the target by $30 to $290 and kept a Buy rating on the shares. The price target bump is due to a higher FY27 earnings estimate of 30x, which reflects Melius' "greater confidence in Services and lower tariff risk."

"Apple's 2.4B+ installed base and Services pillars are poised to grow with the help from new products and finally improving Apple Intelligence/Siri," writes Reitzes as he notes that while "Siri-gate was frustrating but don't think Apple is losing share and patience is being rewarded."

Finally, Rosenblatt's Barton Crockett raised Apple's share price target to $241 and kept a Neutral rating on the stock. Calling the latest iPhones a "solid update," the analyst pointed toward President Trump exempting Apple from the "most onerous tariffs" and Google being allowed to pay the firm more than $20 billion for Search placement as the clearing of "one-time concerning clouds."

The higher price target is based on a forward P/E ratio of 29x, with the firm's Apple model once again demonstrating "durability." Apple's stock closed 1.5% lower yesterday and is flat in premarket trading.

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