It’s Christmas Eve, which means this week is our penultimate Winners and Losers column of the year, where we identify the biggest winners and losers in the tech industry.
Even though people are rushing to wrap presents before Santa Claus arrives, there’s still time for plenty of important tech news. We have seen that there are rumors that the Apple Vision Pro headset will be released in February 2024. Microsoft demonstrates its artificial intelligence power by announcing that its Copilot software can create entire songs from a single sentence.
And yet, none of these stories are notable enough to earn this week’s official winner or loser gong. Read on for our verdict:
Winner: PlayStation
PS5 and Xbox Series This week, Reuters He reported that PS5 reached a massive sales figure of 50 million units.
Finance Times It reported that PS5 will outsell Xbox Series
By reaching this 50 million figure, PS5 has already surpassed products such as the original Xbox, Nintendo 64 and GameCube. There’s still a long way to go to catch up with the PS4, which reportedly sold 117.2 million units. However, it’s important to note that the PS5’s first few years of launch were hampered by serious stock issues, making its recent sales figures even more impressive.
So what’s next for Xbox? Microsoft insists console sales aren’t the sole measure of success, especially as the company now turns its attention to its Game Pass subscription service. You could also argue that Xbox has a bright future, with Microsoft recently completing its historic acquisition of Activision Blizzard, giving them control over popular franchises like Call of Duty, Diablo, Overwatch, and more.
But as PlayStation’s groundbreaking sales figures show, Xbox still has a long way to go to close the gap in this one-sided competition.
Loser: Apple
If you’re in the US and planning to buy the Apple Watch Series 9 or Watch Ultra 2, you may need to act fast because Apple has announced plans to pull the wearable from all stores nationwide (both online and in stores).
This harsh move is a result of the US International Trade Commission imposing an import ban on two watches, ruling that Apple infringed a patent owned by medical device company Masimo. The dispute revolves around the pulse oximeter technology found inside the SpO2 sensor of the two wearable devices; Since Apple Watch SE lacks this sensor, it is not affected by this ban.
It is said that Apple will appeal the decision, but the ITC confirmed that it will not stop the ban in the meantime. It’s hard to know what this means for the future of the Apple Watch Series 9 and Watch Ultra 2 in the US, but it’s certainly not a good look for Apple.
Those of us living outside the US will not be affected by the ban, so anyone living in the UK will be able to purchase the two watches without any problems. However, there is no doubt that these events could have important consequences for the Apple Watch series in the future.
