New York, March 3, 2026, 16:27 EST — Trading after hours
Apple slipped 0.4% to $263.71 after hours on Tuesday. The stock moved between $260.16 and $265.50 over the course of the session.
Shares slipped only a little, but timing is key here. Apple’s latest hardware lands just as investors want evidence: do these upgrades really drive demand and boost profit in this finicky market?
Megacaps aren’t having an easy run either. With the broader market under pressure, even big product headlines struggle to budge a $4 trillion company.
Apple rolled out refreshed MacBook Air and MacBook Pro laptops on Tuesday, both powered by its new M5-series chips and offering increased base storage. The Air now starts at $1,099, while the 14-inch Pro equipped with the M5 Pro chip kicks off at $2,199. Apple touted the chips’ speed boost and enhanced on-device AI — tasks are processed locally, not farmed out to the cloud — as it looks to spark demand in a PC market still struggling with pricier memory. 1
Apple is opening pre-orders for its new 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Air models at 6:15 a.m. Pacific on March 4, with the laptops hitting shelves March 11. “The new MacBook Air with M5 brings incredible performance … and is even faster for AI,” said hardware chief John Ternus. 2
Apple plans to open preorders for the MacBook Pro on March 4, with units hitting stores March 11. The 14-inch version, running the M5 Pro chip, comes in at $2,199 in the U.S. Ternus pointed to “Neural Accelerators” integrated in the GPU, saying they enable advanced LLMs—large language models—to run natively on the machine. 3
Apple rolled out its iPhone 17e on Monday, pricing it at $599 for 256GB of storage and setting preorders for March 4 across more than 70 countries, with availability starting March 11. Reuters pointed out that memory chip prices are up due to a global crunch, and some analysts interpret the bigger storage for the same entry price as a de facto price cut. The same piece referenced The Information, which reported Apple approached Google about hosting servers for an upcoming Siri version built on Gemini models—though neither company gave an immediate response. 4
Apple pitched the iPhone 17e to upgraders as a value-focused option. “iPhone 17e combines powerful performance and features our users love at an exceptional value,” said Kaiann Drance, Apple’s vice president of Worldwide iPhone Product Marketing. 5
Stocks slipped again, with the Nasdaq dropping roughly 1% as traders kept a close eye on the conflict in the Middle East and oil ticking higher. “Investors are growing anxious about the duration of the war and its impact on energy prices,” said Joseph Tanious, chief investment strategist at Northern Trust Asset Management. The broader retreat in risk assets picked up pace. 6
But there’s a catch with hardware. Should memory parts remain scarce and pricey, Apple faces a choice: eat the cost, or push prices and see where buyers balk. Either way, when uncertainty creeps up, people and companies can just hold off on new gear.
Traders on Wednesday have their eyes out for initial indicators of preorder appetite, plus any margin implications as Apple rolls out new chips alongside increased base storage. Preorders for the latest Macs kick off March 4, with in-store sales set for March 11. 7
