خم شدن آیفون 6 پلاس و ضرر 23 میلیارد دلاری اپل در بازار سهام آمریکا

Plagued with allegations of hardware that’s a little too bendy for its newest iPhone and a problematic software update, shares of Apple (AAPL) are bending.

Shares of Apple closed Thursday down $3.88, or 3.8%, to $97.87, breaking the extremely important $100 a share mark. Investors and traders are carefully watching the $100 level since that’s the same level the stock hit in 2012 before beginning a painful roughly 50% decline.

The stock has now lost a staggering $23 billion since the iPhone 6 was released on Sept. 19. The day’s loss in Apple stock exceeds the entire market value of more than half the individual companies in the Standard & Poor’s 500 index — including individual companies such as Macy’s (M) and Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG).

What’s different this time is that there are serious questions about Apple’s once-vaunted quality standards this time. While consumers are used to Apple not being first — for instance following other phone makers with a larger screen — they like to think of Apple’s goods as perfect out of the gate. But suggestions that the iPhone 6 Plus can be bent by hand (or in the front pocket) and widespread reports of connectivity and battery woes caused by the update to the operating system, the popular theory of Apple’s products that they “just work” is under assault.

Shares of Apple are still up sharply this year, by 23%, well ahead of the Standard & Poor’s 500’s roughly 7% gain. But seeing the stock lag following a key launch is not something Apple investors want. The iPhone is the most critical product for Apple so far, accounting for at least half of its stock price, says Trefis.com.

And being the most valuable stock in the S&P 500, a 3% move in the stock can put a massive weight on the entire market, as it is Thursday. Each $1 lost by Apple stock translates into a roughly 0.68 decline by the Standard & Poor’s 500. A $3 decline drags the market down 2 points, not including the ripple effect to other tech companies connected with the iPhone. The S&P 500 is down 25.59 points Thursday to 1972.71.

Of course, Apple products have had problems before. An earlier update to an iPhone would lose connectivity due to a faulty antenna design that founder Steve Jobs was able to do damage control around. But with more scrutiny on Apple, such mishaps are more difficult to scoff off and erode — maybe just a little — Apple’s well-groomed aura of perfection.