Samsung is back on top

Samsung has dethroned Apple as the top smartphone seller... again

4/15/24 10:51AM

Hold the phone

Samsung has reclaimed its position as the world's largest smartphone seller, dethroning Apple in the first quarter of 2024. Preliminary data from research firm International Data Corporation (IDC) revealed that Samsung shipped a market-leading 60 million units, some 20% more than Apple during the same period.

Although Samsung's return to the top spot is not entirely surprising — iPhone sales historically peak in the fourth quarter, and the two smartphone giants constantly tussle for #1 — what is noteworthy is the nearly 10% year-over-year decline in Apple's sales, as demand for its products in China falls. By contrast, Samsung sales were flat, and overall smartphone shipments grew 8%.

Samsung only has a small foothold in the Chinese market, while Apple was a major player in the region last year, boasting over 17% market share. And, like in so many other sectors, Chinese consumers are increasingly opting for a “Made in China” option, with Apple facing intense competition in the nation from rivals Transsion and Xiaomi, both of which reported strong double-digit growth in the most recent quarter. With fewer groundbreaking new features in recent releases, consumers are also holding onto their devices for longer.

Apple has been working hard to diversify away from the iPhone, but the product remains the primary gateway into the Apple ecosystem and its infamous walled garden — and the slump in sales comes at a tough time. The recently launched Vision Pro headset is struggling to gain traction, and the company faces a DOJ lawsuit over the iPhone's alleged monopolistic power. All told, the company’s shares have lagged the wider market (S&P 500) by 13% this year.

Jon Keegan

13m

Anthropic doesn’t want Claude controlling autonomous weapons. The Pentagon may not give them a choice.

A looming Friday deadline to get onboard with the Pentagon’s demands could lead to an unraveling of years of the company’s work with the government.

Rani Molla

Waymo announces Chicago and Charlotte expansion as driverless rollout accelerates

The company is currently operating in 10 US cities.

The Streets of San Francisco, the Waymo way

Rani Molla4h

Uber to roll out robotaxis with Wayve in 10 markets

Uber also has its sights set on 10 robotaxi markets — a milestone that Alphabet subsidiary Waymo reached yesterday.

As part of its latest $1.5 billion funding round, autonomous tech startup Wayve announced that it will be helping to power robotaxis on Uber’s network, with its first launch in London this year. That’s followed by “plans to scale to more than 10 markets globally.”

The companies didn’t specify the vehicle model, but said Wayve’s AI Driver will be deployed in L4-capable vehicles from participating automakers. Uber will own and operate the fleet.

Microsoft, Nvidia, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan, and Stellantis were also part of the fundraise.

Separately, an Uber filing Tuesday showed that newly appointed CFO Balaji Krishnamurthy purchased $1.6 million in company stock.

Uber shares are up about 1% premarket.

Wayve secures $1.5B to deploy its global autonomy platform

The companies didn’t specify the vehicle model, but said Wayve’s AI Driver will be deployed in L4-capable vehicles from participating automakers. Uber will own and operate the fleet.

Microsoft, Nvidia, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan, and Stellantis were also part of the fundraise.

Separately, an Uber filing Tuesday showed that newly appointed CFO Balaji Krishnamurthy purchased $1.6 million in company stock.

Uber shares are up about 1% premarket.

Hyunsoo Rim6h

The way different states use ChatGPT could tell us a lot about their economies

Last Friday, OpenAI launched a new public dashboard tracking global non-enterprise messages on ChatGPT sent between the summer of 2024 and the end of 2025.

Among the 118 countries analyzed, the US ranked 25th by number of messages sent per capita, with a little over three-quarters of all conversations clustering around just three subjects: practical guidance (29%), writing (27%), and seeking information (19.6%). Zooming into the state level, it becomes clear that not all regions are using the chatbot in quite the same way.

DC topped the list of ChatGPT messages per capita — echoing patterns seen in the use of Anthropic’s Claude — and it’s not hard to see why. The capital, dense with federal agencies, think tanks, and law firms, runs on drafting documents, from memos and policy briefs to endless email chains. It makes sense, then, that nearly a third (32%) of DC users lean on AI for writing, above the national average of 27%. The pattern holds across other top-ranked states, too: New York (No. 3), California (No. 4), and Washington (No. 8), for instance, all show writing as their top use case.

Flip to the other end of the rankings, where the states that use ChatGPT the least sit, and the picture looks different. In West Virginia (No. 51), South Dakota (No. 48), Mississippi (No. 46), and Arkansas (No. 45), practical guidance is the dominant use case, often accounting for 33% to 35% of all prompts.

Jon Keegan20h

xAI’s trade secrets lawsuit against OpenAI dismissed

In September, xAI sued rival OpenAI, accusing the company of stealing trade secrets by hiring away key employees.

After a key employee was poached by OpenAI, xAI filed its lawsuit in Northern California federal court, alleging that the company was after its “secret sauce” — the methods by which xAI was able to build data centers so quickly.

Today Judge Rita Lin dismissed the case, citing a lack of any direct accusations against OpenAI itself. In the order dismissing the case, Lin wrote:

“The sole defendant in this lawsuit is OpenAI, whom xAI accuses of misappropriating its trade secrets. But xAI does not point to any misconduct by OpenAI. Instead, it points to eight former xAI employees who left for OpenAI at around the same time.”

The judge said that xAI is allowed to file an amended complaint if it wants to pursue the case, but must do so by March 17.

US judge dismisses xAI trade-secrets lawsuit against rival OpenAI for now