Apple (AAPL)

The world's most valuable company Apple saw billions wiped off its market capitalisation on Monday, after an analyst warned of weak demand for its new iPhone 16.

Shares in the tech company were down nearly 3% at market close on Monday, taking its market valuation to $3.29tn (￡2.49tn).

TF International Securities’ analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said in a post on Medium that he had calculated first-weekend pre-order sales for the iPhone 16 to be an estimated 37 million units, around 12.7% lower than first-weekend sales of the iPhone 15 last year.

He said: "One of the key factors for the lower-than-expected demand for the iPhone 16 Pro series is that the major selling point, Apple Intelligence, is not available at launch alongside the iPhone 16 release."

The iPhone 16 is due to hit store shelves on 20 September, but its generative artificial intelligence platform Apple Intelligence is set to begin its rollout as a software update for US English users in October.

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Maxim Group managing director and senior consumer internet analyst Tom Forte told Yahoo Finance on Monday: "I think the challenge for Apple, as reflected in those reports, is that they're trying to get a consumer to buy new hardware, which is coming out in the month of September.

"But the best-selling point for that hardware, especially for consumers in the US — Apple Intelligence, the AI-related features — those aren't coming out until beta next month."

Microsoft (MSFT)

The world's second-most valuable company Microsoft had a positive trading session on Monday, following the news that its board had approved a new share buyback programme of up to $60bn.

The company also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.83 per share, an increase of 10% on the previous quarter.

Shares closed Monday's session closed slightly higher and were up more than 1% in pre-market trading on Tuesday.

Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, said: "The share buyback juggernaut has moved into the fast lane.

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“While tech companies are increasingly paying more generous dividends to shareholders, their preferred method of deploying surplus cash is to buy back shares."

When companies buy back shares this reduces the amount on the market, which boosts earnings per share and in turn, can drive the market value of a business higher.

Mould said: "Fundamentally, investors love share buybacks. They particularly love them when they are least expected, which is certainly the case for Microsoft. One might have expected the tech giant to spend all its surplus cash on AI-related investments, but it is clearly balancing the needs of the business with keeping shareholders happy."