NEW YORK — December 23, 2025 — Apple Inc. stock (NASDAQ: AAPL) is in focus today as investors weigh a fresh wave of regulatory pressure in Europe against an increasingly optimistic “AI-driven upgrade cycle” narrative heading into 2026. Apple shares have been hovering around $271 in recent trading, with a 52-week range of roughly $169 to $289—a reminder that the stock has already staged a sizeable run even as Wall Street debates what the next leg higher would require. ^[1]

At the center of today’s news flow: Italy’s antitrust authority has fined Apple €98.6 million (about $116 million) over claims that Apple’s app privacy prompts impose unfair burdens on third-party developers—an issue that sits directly at the…