June 20 (Reuters) - Apple ( AAPL ) was sued on Friday by

shareholders in a proposed securities fraud class action that

accused it of downplaying how long it needed to integrate

advanced artificial intelligence into its Siri voice assistant,

hurting iPhone sales and its stock price.

The complaint covers shareholders who suffered potentially

hundreds of billions of dollars of losses in the year ending

June 9, when Apple ( AAPL ) introduced several features and aesthetic

improvements for its products but kept AI changes modest.

Apple ( AAPL ) did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

CEO Tim Cook, Chief Financial Officer Kevan Parekh and former

CFO Luca Maestri are also defendants in the lawsuit filed in San

Francisco federal court.

Shareholders led by Eric Tucker said that at its June 2024

Worldwide Developers Conference, Apple ( AAPL ) led them to believe AI

would be a key driver of iPhone 16 devices, when it launched

Apple Intelligence to make Siri more powerful and user-friendly.

But they said the Cupertino, California-based company lacked

a functional prototype of AI-based Siri features, and could not

reasonably believe the features would ever be ready for iPhone

16s.

Shareholders said the truth began to emerge on March 7 when

Apple ( AAPL ) delayed some Siri upgrades to 2026, and continued through

this year's Worldwide Developers Conference on June 9 when

Apple's ( AAPL ) assessment of its AI progress disappointed analysts.

Apple ( AAPL ) shares have lost nearly one-fourth of their value

since their December 26, 2024 record high, wiping out

approximately $900 billion of market value.

The case is Tucker v. Apple Inc ( AAPL ) et al, U.S. District Court,

Northern District of California, No. 25-05197.