The California-based technology company, which began its meteoric rise humbly more than 20 years ago, is finally facing a slowdown – as shown by disappointing results reported this week.
Despite the fact that Apple reported a $13.1bn profit, its fourth-quarter results revealed a slowdown to its seemingly endless rise.
This rattled the stock market earlier this week and, as a result, the company shed $50bn in value in the biggest share price fall seen since the the credit crisis.
Price says Apple’s shipment numbers were particularly concerning and pointed out that figures for every product – from the Mac to the iPhone 5 – fell short of expectations.
"Furthermore, our view is that the March guidance is not the usual conservative guidance that we have come to expect from Apple’s CFO," he added.
"A bigger issue for us is that Apple did not seem to acknowledge its problems and its market-share loss to Samsung and Android. In our view, Apple needs more models, especially a wider phone, and they need to acknowledge that their margins are unsustainably high."
"It looks as if 2013 will likely be a difficult year for Apple," he added.
Apple's share price is now down 35 per cent from its peak in September last year.
According to FE data, 135 funds and 10 investment trusts have exposure to the technology giant in their top-10 holdings.
The majority of these are US-focused, but global portfolios such as AXA Framlington Global Growth and Franklin Global Growth, as well as technology funds such as GLG Technology Equity and Henderson Global Technology, are also heavily exposed.
Six funds in the IMA universe hold more than 8 per cent in the company, with the L&G Global Technology Index fund holding a mammoth 17.88 per cent.
The fund tracks the FTSE World Technology index, which shows just how dominant Apple is.
Overall, 84 funds in the IMA universe have Apple as their number-one holding – and all of them are likely to take a hit should the company continue to slide.
Top-6 funds exposed to Apple
| Name | Exposure (%) |
| L&G Global Technology Index | 17.9 |
| FF Global Technology | 10.2 |
| CF Westchester | 9.9 |
| Invesco Global Technology | 9.2 |
| Janus US Twenty | 8.9 |
| AXA Framlington American Growth | 8.4 |
Source: FE Analytics
However, many funds are fairly well diversified across the technology sector, which Price says has had a swathe of positive news of late.
For example, the £656.7m AXA Framlington American Growth fund, headed up by Stephen Kelly, features search engine Google as its second-largest holding – which Price says could be buoyed by the lessening threat from mobile ad pricing.
Company expert professor Loizos Hercleous says it would be “premature” to write off Apple on the back of its Q4 report.
"We need to appreciate that its so-called disappointing performance is still extraordinary by many measures, and that it has the capabilities to keep winning in its markets, which it may yet redefine with more blockbuster products," he explained.
"Apple is thought by many to have posted poor results, but this would be a rushed assessment. Apple's revenues continued growing at a fast pace, with an 18 per cent rise over the previous year and 25 per cent more when adjusting for the fact that this quarter was for a 13-week period while the previous year was for 14 weeks."
In an article last year, Darwin’s David Jane foresaw the current slowdown, saying Apple was a bubble waiting to burst.