With smartphone, tablet and PC sales slowing down due to high adoption rates and offering just incremental improvements from the previous version of devices, Apple needs to reignite consumers excitement to encourage more frequent upgrades. We all remember the long queues outside Apple stores when a new iPhone was launched! The excitement generated by past product launches is critical Apple’s business and brand.

Since the introduction of the iPhone, the iPad, and the Apple watch, Apple has been the undisputable leader in terms of the user experience, and dominated sales of smartphones, tablets and smartwatches in value terms.

Over the last 17 years Apple has not faced any other disruptive technology as potentially detrimental for its business and its future, as AI, if not tackled in the right way. WWDC 2024 offered Apple and its CEO, Tim Cook, an opportunity to demonstrate how the company will lead in making AI a transformative, advanced, and intelligent experience for their users.

AI-enabled devices will be the fastest growing segment in for smartphones and PCs.

AI will enable Apple to offer unique and intelligent features, experiences and services to their customers. However, the key question remains: will these announcements be enough to secure Apple’s leading position? Many competitors (from phones to PCs vendors) have already revealed their AI strategies and devices. How can Apple stand out and how can a partnership with OpenAI help? 

AI-enabled devices will be the fastest growing segment in for smartphones and PCs. IDC forecasts that AI Smartphones to reach 170 million units in 2024, and AI PCs to account for nearly 60% of all PC shipments by 2027.

 Historically, the App Store has been at the heart of the value proposition of Apple’s iPhone and the iPad. The slogan “there’s an App for that” became iconic. However, AI is set to “kill” the apps and a new era is about to begin for Apple and the industry.

Today, the smartphone is not ‘Smart’ anymore. 

 Previously, the more apps the smartphone (and tablets) was able to run, and the more powerful the apps, the better the smartphone (or the tablet). Today, the smartphone is not ‘Smart’ anymore. With AI, the fewer apps needed and the more a phone can use data contextually to assist the user, the better the phone will be. 

This will revolutionise the user experience, requiring an operating system able to learn from all devices and services in Apple’s ecosystem. Apple’s full control of its ecosystem, hardware and software, and seamless integration gives it a significant advantage over competitors and offers consumers the most powerful experiences among all device makers. This is particularly important when the experience will be defined by how well the phone “knows” the user, which can only be achieved by this seamless integration, while making sure the personal information and data remain private.

Although Apple is not the first to offer AI-enabled features, it is in its DNA to offer the perfect experience. AI will not just offer the best experience, but the most powerful, disruptive, personalized and private, and that’s exactly what Apple showed today with Apple Intelligence.

While AI-generated Emojis will grab the headlines, Apple showcased how AI will empower users in several ways, particularly around productivity, education and entertainment.These are the areas where Apple already excels with its range of services and applications.

 As user interaction shifts from opening an app to asking the phone, Siri is the glue to all of this, the killer feature that will attract consumers to AI enabled devices. Siri will offer a unique way to interact with all Apple devices using our voice in a more personalized and conversational manner.

It will become a true digital assistant contextually understanding various aspects of users’ lives and providing human-like responses by accessing data across all devices to provide the right response to the users’ needs. This conversational digital assistant fully integrated with all devices will be a game changer, and I believe it will offer a compelling reason for many to upgrade their iPhones in the years to come.

Apple’s strength lies in the breath of its portfolio and its ecosystem. For consumers, it does not matter what is the definition of an AI-enabled iPhone, or how many TOPs it can run. What matters is how well a phone can assist users in managing their lives. By reducing the need to navigate multiple apps,

Apple’s AI-enabled devices will offer a smoother, more intuitive and smarter experience. This marks the beginning of a new era for Apple and for their users and will help Apple to benefit from a future super cycle of device sales and the transition to intelligent devices in the years to come.

Francisco will be discussing worldwide trends in used mobile phone sales at Mobile News’ secondary markey conference Circular Summit

The shareholders claim in the Swedish court and is not connected to action by US authorities. On December 6, 2019, Ericsson entered into a Deferred Prosecution Agreement (DPA) with the US Department of Justice for violations of the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act over several years. The DPA involved, among other things, the payment of a fine of around £750,000.

Ericsson has been present in Iraq since 2003 and had known since 2011 and it had been involved in violations of its own code of business ethics, including corruption and tax violations. In 2019, Ericsson carried out an extensive internal investigation regarding the events in Iraq, an investigation that resulted in a 79-page long undisclosed report. This report was not released to the public and its content is hidden.

In February last year, Ericsson admitted the existence and contents of the report after it was leaked to the media through the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ). The admission of the existence of the secret internal report came two years after it was completed.

The shareholders claim that the report and its contents constitute a failure to inform the public of inside information as defined under EU Market Abuse Regulations (MAR) of the EU.

The summons application states that “Article 17.1 MAR stipulates that an issuer must inform the public as soon as possible of inside information that directly concerns that issuer.  The information must be made public in a way that gives the public quick access to it and the opportunity for a complete and accurate assessment at the right time.”

According to the claim, as Ericsson “only released certain information to the public in February 2022 about its actions in Iraq, it has failed to comply with its obligation to publish the inside information as soon as possible according to Article 17.1 MAR. Instead, Ericsson has kept the information secret for a period of at least two years and two months. Ericsson has thereby breached its obligations under MAR.”

The claim highlights that the shareholder plaintiffs in February 2022 became aware of the existence of information that Ericsson had been “involved in, among other things, serious compliance violations and violations of the Company’s own code of business ethics, including corruption and tax violations. In addition, Ericsson had made payments likely to have contributed to the financing of the terrorist organization IS in Iraq and that Ericsson had paid bribes for and used an alternative transport route through IS-controlled territory in order to circumvent Iraqi customs duties, contrary to local law.”

“Ericsson carried out an extensive internal investigation regarding the events in Iraq, an investigation that resulted in a 79-page long report. However, Ericsson had kept secret all this information, which includes both the information on payments to IS, bribes in Iraq and other compliance and tax violations as well as the existence of the internal investigation and the existence and content of the report. Ericsson has not yet published the report or detailed its content.”

On March 2, 2022, Ericsson disclosed in a press release that the DoJ had concluded that the Company had provided insufficient information to the DoJ at the time of entering into the DPA and had breached its obligations under the DPA by not providing sufficient information regarding the Internal Investigation. On March 2, 2023, Ericsson reached a new settlement with the DoJ which included an additional fine of approximately $200 million. The settlement does not cover Ericsson’s actions in Iraq as such, which is subject to continued investigation by the DoJ

READ THE FULL CLAIM DOCUMENT HERE

The program supports repairs to the Galaxy S20, S21 and S22 series of products as well as the Galaxy Book Pro and Galaxy Book Pro 360.

Users can replace the phone screen, back glass and charging ports.Galaxy Book Pro series owners will have access to seven genuine parts including the case front, case rear, display, battery, touchpad, power key with fingerprint reader, and rubber feet.

People can keep all repair tools so they can use them whenever they need, Samsung will be expanding its Self-Repair program to include more devices, repair tools, manuals and markets.

“Samsung is working to extend the lifecycle of our devices to encourage users to experience the optimised performance of their Galaxy device for as long as possible,” said TM Roh, President and Head of Mobile eXperience Business at Samsung Electronics.

Samsung first launched its Self-Repair program in the United States last year. Samsung collaborating with Eurpean parts distributors such as ASWO, a Germany-based after-sales service and electronics specialist for Europe and authorised Samsung distributor,

Profit-driven hacking groups are behind a 500 per cent in botnet-driven denial of service attacks against networks in the last year according to Nokia;s Threat Intelligence team.

The attacks were made through a million insecure IoT devices inclding iunsecured smart refrigerators and medical sensors, and were intended to disrupt telecom networks, said Nokia.

Bot malware scans billions of IoT devices worldwide for vulnerable IoT devices including smart refrigerators and medical sensors which may lack adequate security measures.

The initial surge occurring when the Russia-Ukraine conflict started and the trend has now spread globally to various critical infrastructure sectors said Nokia.

The number of IoT devices involved in these attacks is believed to have has risen from 200,000 to approximately 1 million although Nokias findings based on data collected from over 200 million devices worldwide that use Nokia’s NetGuard Endpoint Security product which monitors consumer, enterprise, and critical infrastructure network traffic for malware and attack activity.

The hacking was discovered by various Nokia centres specialising in threat intelligence and cybersecurity.

The Nokia report r the number of trojans (malicious software that masquerades as safe applications) targeting personal banking information on mobile devices has doubled, putting millions of users at risk of financial and credit card information theft. 

Fortunately, malware infections in home networks have decreased from the peak of three per cent during the COVID-19 pandemic to 1.5 per cent, and are nearly back to the the pre-pandemic level of once per cent. Nokia says this decline is due to a decrease in malware campaigns targeting remote workers as more people returned to their offices.

Nokia senior vice president Hamdy Farid emphasised the need for stronger security measures in 5G networks. This includes implementing threat detection and response systems specific to telecom providers, as well as promoting robust security practices and awareness across all levels of organizations involved in the industry.

The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York has dismissed the securities litigation brought by certain shareholders.

The court rejected claims that Ericsson misled investors and concluded that Ericsson did not violate any disclosure obligation to investors.

The motion to dismiss decision is subject to appeal from the plaintiff. Ericsson says it will continue to vigorously defend this matter if appealed.

The Nasdaq Stockholm has closed its review into Ericsson’s public disclosure concerning the 2019 Iraq report stating it “cannot come to the conclusion that the content of the report was such that a reasonable investor would have used such information as part of his/her investment decision”.

At Ericsson’s annual conference a year ago, one of the world’s largest sovereign wealth funds, and a top-10 Ericsson shareholder voted against releasing CEO Borje Ekholm and many other members from responsibility for the Iraq bribery scandal.

Ericsson is still facing legal claims from American families of servicemen and workers killed or injured in Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria. They are suing Ericsson under the federal anti-terrorism act. 

The families filed a suit in the District Court of Columbia alleging that Ericsson bribed terrorist groups to protect its interests in these countries and by doing so exposed their family members to graver risks.

Emporia targets is phones at the senior market and reckons there are 40,000 residents over 65.

“Older residents of these islands will now have a wider range of 4G mobile phones available to them that are tailored to their specific needs.Being able to offer our older customers new easy-to-use phones that are 4G compatible is extremely important as we want to be able to service everyone’s needs effectively in our island community.” said Mike Fawkner-Corbett Head of Consumer at Sure

“We have been looking for more senior-friendly devices carrying this technology for a while, so to offer two new handsets with improved connectivity will be well received by our customers.”

Chris Millington, Managing Director at emporia UK and Ireland added:

“Many people will soon find their 3G devices are obsolete. It is important that we expand our offering to provide quality 4G devices to all users who are not yet ready, or who are maybe unable, to transition to a smartphone. We are giving access to easy mobiles for all Brits regardless of their age or location.”

Emporia devices feature phones have enlarged buttons and intuitive user interfaces and functions designed fpr an accessible and easy-to-use experience.

Google has also updated the £449 mid-tier Pixel 6a with the Pixel 7a which has the same G2 Tensor chip as the Pixel 7 and 7 Pro,

“Despite the impressive engineering behind Google Pixel Fold, the jury is still out whether foldable phones represent the future of smartphones, or if they will remain a niche and very highly-priced product for a limited number of customers” said Ernest Doku, mobiles analyst at Uswitch.com 

 “Around 13 million foldable phones shipped last year which is barely one per cent of global smartphone sales. It will be interesting to see if the £1,749 Google Pixel Fold can significantly shift the dial, or whether that responsibility will rest with the mythical iPhone Flip”.

“Given the major price hikes facing mobile customers, it’ll be no surprise if the likes of the Pixel and Apple’s iPhone SE range are particularly popular options this year,” says Doku.

“There will be a middle-ground in terms of price later in the year, although Google fans will probably have to wait until October to get their hands on the flagship Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro”.

According to uSwitch Google’s Android powers around 72 per cent of all smartphones. The latest version of Google’s OS, Android 14, will launch later in the year and promises to deliver improved personalisation, privacy and security.

Meanwhile OPPO announced its foldable phone, the OPPO Find N2 Flip will be one of the first smartphones in the world to receive the new Google Android 14 Beta 1 update.

Android 14 includes several updates to enhance productivity, performance, privacy, security and user customisation. It offers more intuitive system user interfaces, such as the new mid-display back arrow and an improved system share sheet. To strengthen users’ privacy, the system allows apps to limit the visibility of specified views only to accessibility services.

 Apple has pledged to only use recycled cobalt in batteries by 2025 along with recycled rare earth elements in magnets, and recycled tin and gold in circuit boards.

Apple currently sources most of its aluminium, rare earth elements, and nearly all tungsten from recycled material.

“Our ambition is to use 100 per cent recycled and renewable materials and our goal is to have carbon-neutral products by 2030,” said Lisa Jackson, Apple’s vice president of environment, policy, and social initiatives.

“We’re working toward both goals with urgency and advancing innovation across our entire industry”  

In 2019 Apple was named in a US lawsuit over child deaths in Congo cobalt mines. There is huge controversy about child labour used to extract cobalt from open mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo which has most of the world’s supply of cobalt. 

Tom Williams co-founder of tech refurbishment company Spring said the Apple announcement was “an important first step but more must still be done to reach a truly circular and sustainable consumer tech economy”.

“Using recycled components is a critical stage in creating a circular economy. But this announcement should only be the beginning. If Apple is serious about its net-zero by 2030 targets. other less-known materials need to be sourced sustainably too such as neodymium and europium, both important for touchscreens.

“Unless all finite resources are sourced sustainably, the consumer tech industry won’t be able to exist in the future. We hope that this is a wake-up call for other brands such as Samsung and Google. Apple accounts for less than a quarter of the total global market share. Without industry-wide commitments fully sustainable consumption isn’t realistic”

The enhanced software allows operators to shut down idling and unused equipment automatically and disconnect hardware through remote power control modules.

The improved machine learning algorithms can lower power consumption in data centres, network base stations, batteries, and air conditioning units in telco networks.

Networks spend up to 20 per cent of their total revenue on energy costs, according to analysts Analysys Mason’s

“Efficient energy consumption is an increasingly important aspect of network operations. Communications service providers recognize it as being a strategic imperative for their business and they want tools that will meaningfully help meet increased network customer demands while lowering energy consumption” said Analysys Mason consultant Michela Venturelli.

According to Nokia, around 80 per cent of a network’s energy consumption is the radio equipment The rest is used by transport and maintenance components such as air conditions,

Around 330 million used devices will be sold this year worldwide but shipments of new mobile phones are expected to drop decline a further four per cent says analysts CCS Insight .

CCS Insight tracks the second-hand market segment and reckons the global mobile phone market will experience another tough year with shipments set to be at their lowest annual level for well over a decade at 1.35 billion units,

Worldwide shipments of new smartphones will fall to 1.16 billion units according to CCS Insight’s latest market forecast. The demand for high-end devices will grow in line with the further adoption of 5G.

Despite difficulties in the wider market there will be growing demand for 5G high-end devices

“The mobile phone market was in touching distance of selling 2 billion units a year in 2015. But people are happy to use the same phone for longer. There is the growing appeal of used devices.” explains Marina Koytcheva, Vice President of Forecasting at CCS Insight.

The decline in new devices is expected to be more pronounced in the first half of 2023. Recovery is expected in the fourth quarter when economic headwinds are expected to calm. Most regions will see shipments drop. Western Europe and North American markets are being hit by inflationary pressure and financial uncertainty while demand in China is forecast to improve after the lifting of Covid-19 restrictions. Demand in India will remain stable.

CCS Insight says brands focussed on premium phones will continue to benefit because higher-income consumers are less affected by the weaker economy The high-end market is expected to remain relatively strong in 2023. 5G phones are forecast to reach 700 million shipments, accounting for more than one in two phones sold yearly.

 CCS Insight expects the market to gradually improve next year but not recover to the levels seen in the mid-2010s as the increasing strength of the second-hand market suppresses demand for new devices. The market for used mobile phones is expected to continue growing even when the financial outlook improves, as people become more environmentally conscious. This trend is likely to continue in the coming years, with second-hand devices as a proportion of all sales forecast to almost double by 2027.

“Mobile phones remain the most loved connected device that people own. But that doesn’t mean consumers want to keep buying phones as often as before or purchase brand-new devices. Post-pandemic consumer behaviour has changed, and the industry needs to adapt to the new reality,” Koytcheva concludes.

CCFS