Apple's stock recently had a high of $134.54 - and whilst Apple is worth more than any U.S company, it is clear that troubling times could be ahead for the company, of which profits are largely based on the iPhone.

The smartphone market is set to decline, and this could mean big issues for Apple. Analysts are already cutting their expected growth forecasts - for both the fourth, and first quarter. Weaker demand for smartphones, Apple's main product line, is to blame for the cut in forecasts.

Apple's stock over a 24-hour period

On Friday, Apple's stock went into the red - and it continues to fall. The 1 day graph of Apple's stock certainly doesn't look too good for investors. The 1 year graph doesn't look any better...

Apple's stock over 1 year

The stock was reaching high-points between February up until July - past that however, the future seemed bleak. August saw quite a drop, to less than $103. December continues to trickle downwards.

Other companies in the tech industry have seen more positive results - companies such as Amazon, Netflix and Microsoft saw healthy increases. Microsoft itself enjoyed an increase of 16%. In comparison, Apple is down 4.1%, further than the 2.6% by Standard & Poor's 500.

The $160 billion ripped off of Apple's stock is more than the worth of many of the top companies, some of which include:

Company Market Symbol Market Value ($B) Oracle ORCL $157.5 Citigroup C $157.4 Pepsico PEP $146 Phillip Morris PM $138 Cisco Systems CSCO $135.6 International Bus. Machines IBM $132.7 Nike NKE $111

Apple continues to try to gain profits in other areas than smartphones - such as computing, with its Mac product line. At this point however, the company still relies heavily on its smartphone sales from the iPhone - and any disruption to the smartphone demand can hit them hard.

Source: USA Today, paulheu | Image: USA Today Money