A smartphone, costing only KES 14000 was launched in Kenya this week. Techweez editor was shocked at the price saying, “Whoa! That’s massive for the features.” Across the globe, Ukraine officially chooses AI as the country’s spokesperson as Satya Nadella does an Asian tour. These are some tech news highlights from the week that was.
Tesla Woes Persist
The projected growth of the Electric vehicle market is not looking good. In the first 3 months of 2024, EV sales fell drastically. American automaker, Tesla, suffered a 36% drop compared to the same period in 2023. The woes for the company are evident in many of its actions as the company’s share price has dropped more than 25% since January.
For starters, Tesla has been slashing prices to boost sales. This week it announced it was laying off 14000 workers -10% of its entire workforce- to improve its margins. In a perplexing move, Tesla announced it was letting go of its entire workforce working under the much-vaunted supercharger network.
This news came the same week the company announced it was halting efforts to develop its gigacasting technology. Gigacasting is high-pressure forming for single-piece car frames. The innovation utilizes huge presses to die-cast large sections of the car’s underbody by punching out the underbody in a single piece. Instead, the automaker will stick to the traditional three-piece underbody construction: two gigacasted front and rear sections and a midsection made of aluminum and steel frames.
Microsoft’s AI Charm Offensive in Asia
Executive Chairman and CEO of Microsoft Corporation Satya Nadella was in Malaysia this week, where he met the country’s Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim. After the meeting on Thursday, Microsoft announced it will invest $2.2 billion over the next four years in Malaysia. The largest investment by Microsoft in the Asian country will focus on developing cloud and AI infrastructure. The Malaysian government and the tech giant will work together to establish a national AI Centre of Excellence, aimed at boosting the nation’s cybersecurity capabilities.
Before visiting Malaysia, Satya was in Jakarta, Indonesia. Here he promised Microsoft will invest $1.7 billion over the next four years. This investment will also focus on growing cloud services and artificial intelligence in Indonesia. Microsoft has pledged to train 2.5 million people in the South Asia by 2025. In other tech news this week, the company stated plans for a $2.9 billion investment in cloud infrastructure in Japan and a $1.5 billion investment in the UAE.
Apple’s Big Sales Decline
Compared to its big tech peers, Apple shares have been declining. The company has seen a 10% drop in share prices in the first quarter of 2024. Its flagship iPhone, which accounts for 50% of the company’s revenue, has also experienced a 10.4% drop in sales. In China, research firm Counterpoint reports that iPhone sales fell to 15.7% market share in the first quarter from 19.7% in 2023. In contrast, Huawei buoyed by the launch of the Pura Series, saw sales jump 70%.
During the week, Apple released its revenue report. iPhone revenue dipped 10%, iPad dipped by 17%, and wearable sales dipped by 10%. However, the bright spot was the Services segment, which surged by 14%. Mac revenue also grew modestly at 3.9%. Overall, Apple’s revenue declined by 4% to $90.8 billion.
Google is Moving Core Teams Overseas
Google’s Core Systems & Experience (CSE) division serves as the foundation for the company’s flagship products, ensuring user online safety and maintaining a robust global IT infrastructure. In a circular to staff this week, the company announced it is laying off 200 core team members based in California.
Going forward, members of the core team will primarily be based in India and Mexico. Google claims the relocations are meant to bring it “closer to our partners and developer communities” abroad, its key markets such as India and Brazil.
Ukraine Chooses AI as Its Official Spokesperson
In the quest to win wars, countries go to great lengths but Ukraine’s latest move is a surprise. The European country launched Victoria Shi on Wednesday. Victoria Shi is an AI spokesperson who will make statements on behalf of its foreign ministry. Ukraine says this is a technological leap that no diplomatic service in the world has yet made. Further, the country claims the innovation is meant to save time and resources for the country’s diplomats.
This Phone is a Steal at KES 14,000
Perhaps the most eye catching tech news, Itel announced its latest flagship for 2024 – the Itel S24. The Itel S24 is a refresh of the flagship S line and succeeds the Itel S23 and S23+ smartphones from last year.
Itel S24 has some impressive futures. It has a 6.7-inch LCD HD+ screen sporting 720p resolution, 500 nits peak brightness and 90Hz refresh rate. Under the hood of the S24 is the MediaTek Helio G91 Ultra chipset paired with 8GB RAM and 256GB storage. It ships with Android 13 and Itel OS 13. In Kenya, you can get this for just KES 14,000.
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