Recently there’s been a lot of focus on Apple and it’s shares and what actions the company would take. Apple cut the prices of its products in China. They also faced major problems with their watch as they had to produce and sell it without the blood oxygen feature. Microsoft overtook Apple as the world’s most valuable company. And some good news for Apple fans. The company sold more phones than its main rival Samsung.
Apples decreased costs in China
After demand for iPhones fell in China, the company responded by cutting prices. The company slashed the prices of the latest models in the country. The iPhone 15 and 15 Pro have been reduced by up to $70 (500 yuan). These reductions will be around 5% and the offer will run from 18 January to 21 January.
The problems in China are some regulations by companies not to use iPhones. These weaker sales have also affected the company’s shares after several analysts downgraded their ratings on the company in recent weeks. This was due to slowing sales in countries such as China. Apple’s Q4 revenue fell by 2.5% to just $15.5 billion.
Recent problems with the Apple Watch
The company is facing problems over the patents for the blood oxygen function of its Apple Watches. The legal battle is expected to last more than a year. As a result, analysts were already expecting the company to remove the feature from the devices rather than withdraw them from sale. Apple said that the Apple Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2 without the feature will be available to the public from 18 January. As a result, Apple’s share price fell 0.5% to $182.68.
Apple was forced to remove the feature after the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled that the company could no longer sell watches with the feature. At the centre of the battle is technology company Masimo. In December, Masimo won a decision from the US International Trade Commission (ITC) to stop imports of the devices.
The company’s reaction to the ITC’s decision is, of course, mixed. Masimo says it shows “that even the largest and most powerful companies must respect the intellectual rights of American inventors and face the consequences when they are caught infringing on others’ patents”. Apple also said it “strongly disagrees” with the ITC’s decision. The ruling only affects the new models, not the old ones.
Microsoft overtakes Apple
Since Microsoft is developing very fast due to it’s AI and other things the company did recently. Now in recent weeks the company was very close to overtaking Apple as the most valuable company in the world. A few days ago on Thursday January 18. Microsoft was able to overtake Apple after Apple’s valued decreased to §2.871 trillion and Microsoft’s value increased to $2.875 trillion. This was now the first time since November 2021 that Microsoft is worth more than Apple. This is also due to the recently announced Copilot Pro feature of Microsoft. Apple also faced major challenges recently what lead to a decrease in their value.
Apple sells more smartphones than Samsung
After a 12-year run by electronics giant Samsung, Apple has now overtaken Samsung in smartphone sales. According to International Data Corp, Apple took a 20% share of the global smartphone market in 2023. Samsung ended the year with a 19.4% share, just ahead of China’s Xiaomi.
The upgrades for Chinese smartphone makers come as customers opt for cheaper smartphones due to economic uncertainty and high inflation. As Apple’s customers are reluctant to switch to other companies and the Apple environment becomes more common, the company has been able to add customers in recent years.
Apple and another company called Transsion are the only two of the top five companies to post record sales growth last year. This was after the overall market fell by 2.3% to a figure of 1.17 trillion units in 2023. This is a decade low.
Samsung’s shipments fell 13.6% last year, while Apple’s iPhone shipments grew 3.7% last year, according to IDC data. However, Apple is under pressure in China. This is due to the budget of Chinese brands and especially Huawei.
Some Wall Street analysts are concerned about the future of the company due to some problems such as the decline in value. It will be interesting to see how the tech giant develops in the future and whether it can regain the lead as the world’s most valuable company.
Leave a Reply