It seems only once in a blue moon, but the Apple stock has recently been downgraded by a brokerage firm.

The downgrade comes from BTIG Research which rated Apple stock as “neutral” down from “buy” on Monday.

The warning comes from BTIG Research’s Walter Piecyk who downgraded Apple stock in a not sent to investors.

According to BTIG, the Apple downgrade is due to the steep subsidy paid by mobile carriers for the iPhone.

The downgrade, however, is despite the fact that even BTIG thinks Apple will have great performance for the current quarter.

Nonetheless, it predicts that the high subsidy paid by telecoms companies for the iPhone will eventually lead to a decline in iPhone orders from telecoms.

“Operators, unwilling to stall the pace of ARPU [average revenue per user] growth, offered generous upgrade policies including some that enabled a fully subsidized phone upgrade only one year in to a two year contract,” Piecyk noted.

“We expect those policies to change as the faster upgrade rate of smartphones compared to legacy feature phones has been a costly surprise to post-paid and pre-paid operators, alike,” he added.

Apple stock is still performing well, nonetheless.

Apple stock has been downgraded in rating by BTIG Research. Image: Wysz / Flickr (CC)

About Solon Harmony Dolor

A passion for technology and journalism makes this upcoming writer very interested in social media and technology news. Fresh from finishing an English and Journalism degree from the University of the Philippines Diliman, he aims to bring interesting news to our readers .