Saudi Aramco surpassed the American company Apple to become the most valuable company in the world, following its share recorded 46.10 riyals during today’s trading in the Saudi stock market.
The American technology company lost more than $200 billion of its market value in three days, falling to $2.461 trillion, while the shares of the world’s largest energy company gained to surpass it to $2.464 trillion.
According to Bloomberg, the market value of “Apple” reached its peak on January 4 at $2.960 trillion, but it has remained on a downward path since then, losing nearly $484 billion, while high oil prices supported Aramco’s prospects.
Aramco is scheduled to announce its financial results for the first quarter of 2022 next Sunday, in light of expectations of achieving strong profits, taking advantage of the strong oil price gains since the beginning of this year, which increased its pace since the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The profits of the Saudi company rose for the year 2021 to the highest level since its listing on the Saudi stock market, due to the rise in oil prices, the consolidation of SABIC’s business results for a full year, in addition to a significant increase in the profit margins of the refining and chemicals business.
Net profit amounted to 412.4 billion riyals last year, a growth of 124.4% compared to 2020. Aramco announced the distribution of cash dividends to shareholders of 70.33 billion riyals for the fourth quarter of 2021, in addition to a recommendation by the Board of Directors to capitalize 15 billion riyals of the remaining profits and grant each 10 free shares.
Published Saturday 07 May 2022 | 07:23
The global price of iPhones depends mainly on the US dollar, so with the new economic changes Apple will have to raise the prices of iPhone 14 phones globally.
Despite the outstanding financial performance of Apple in the first quarter of 2022, the American company is facing some difficulties during the second fiscal quarter, as it is expected to continue for the period of this year.
It is expected that Apple’s revenue will decrease during the current fiscal quarter by regarding 4 to 8 billion dollars, due to several different factors, including the partial closure imposed by the Chinese government on some cities to limit the spread of the Corona virus once more, noting that most of Apple’s offers and products are located In China.
There is a new challenge facing Apple, which is the expected rise in the exchange rate of the US dollar once morest local currencies, and for this also its economic reasons represented in raising interest rates within the US market and the demand of investors to buy the United States.
This expected rise in iPhone prices globally will have negative effects on the demand for iPhone and other Apple products, with increasing fears of a global recession that may extend its effects to the long term.
In addition to other important factors such as the loss of the Russian market as a result of US economic sanctions on Russia, the global supply chain crisis, and many other things.
iPhone 14 Max price and specifications
Leaks revealed the price and specifications of the iPhone 14 Max phone, which will be released in the upcoming iPhone 14 series in September, as the phone will be a qualitative leap in the next series, as it will be an alternative to the small mini phone, which has not achieved satisfactory sales for Apple during the past two years.
According to Notebookcheck, the iPhone 14 Max will get a larger size than the cheaper iPhone 14 in the series, and it will also be cheaper and less capable than the iPhone 14 Pro models.
The iPhone 14 Max will come with a 6.7-inch OLED screen, 1,284 x 2,778 resolution with a 90Hz refresh rate per second, a smaller notch with Face ID, a 48-megapixel primary camera, and a 12-megapixel front camera.
The iPhone 14 Max will work with the latest A16 Bionic processor for iPhone phones, with 6 GB of RAM of LPDDR4X type, 128 GB and 256 GB of internal storage, and the phone will also get a significant battery upgrade.
The iPhone 14 Max will reach a price of regarding $1,000 following raising the interest rate, which is equivalent to regarding 18,500 Egyptian pounds, for the smallest version.
The European Union’s executive body considered that the US company “Apple” is “exploiting its dominant position in the mobile device market by preventing competitors from working on its devices.”
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The Commission considered that “Apple” is exploiting its dominant position in the mobile device market “by preventing competitors from working on its devices”.
The European Commission on Monday accused the US giant Apple of preventing competition in contactless payment systems by imposing the Apple Pay service on its mobile phone users.
The Commission, the European Union’s executive body, said in a statement that “the iPhone manufacturer is exploiting its dominant position in the mobile market by preventing competitors from working on its devices.”
The European Competition Commissioner, Danish Margrethe Vestager, launched an investigation last June into Apple Pay, a mobile payment service, to determine whether the American giant had violated European laws.
There were initial concerns related to this payment service and the way it is used during online shopping and sites, and also Apple’s refusal to allow competitors to use it, except on conditions sometimes.
As the investigation progressed, the European Commission fixed its focus on the company’s “monopoly” through Apple Pay technology.
The NFC payment service was a great success, especially during the spread of the “Covid-19” epidemic, as it ensures that nothing is touched. According to some analysts, the great demand for the “Apple” store and the services available in it, gave the American company an advantage over competitors.
But “Apple” set certain prices for the use of its technology by third parties, and it also “contributed to forcing third parties to use its technology,” according to Archyde.com, which put the company under the microscope.
The commission is currently preparing an indictment that may be sent to Apple next year, according to Archyde.com. This document will identify practices that the regulator, led by Vestager herself, considers to be anti-competitive, while there are currently three files open by the European Commission once morest Apple.
Archyde.com adds that the commission may impose fines on companies amounting to regarding 10% of their global trading volume for violating laws, which means, given Apple’s income in 2020, that the fine may reach $27.4 billion.
Other European countries such as the Netherlands and Germany had earlier opened investigations or enacted legislation related to the “Apple Pay” service, while in South Korea the government approved a law, last month, that prevents “Apple” from forcing software developers to use its payment systems.
Reports revealed that Apple company It has struck a deal with a new supplier of telephoto lens components for its periscope camera system in future iPhones, The Elec reports.
On Wednesday, South Korea’s Jahwa Electronics said it plans to spend 191 billion won ($155 million) on building factories to produce new optical image stabilization (OIS) drivers.
According to an earlier report by The Elec, Apple visited Jahwa Electronics’ new facilities during the first half of 2021, and it is “likely” that the investment will be made so that Jahwa can start supplying Apple with OIS triggers from next year.
Apple usually requires suppliers to build production lines exclusively for its parts and components, but the new facilities to be built at Gumi will require approval from the US tech giant once completed, and the whole process will take a year from now to be completed.
OIS actuators, which combine both OIS and autofocus functions in one, are likely to be for telephoto cameras in 2023 iPhone. Elec previously connected the components to the periscope camera system, allowing for increased optical magnification.
Rumors regarding an iPhone getting a periscope lens have been circulating since early 2020, and famous analyst Ming-Chi Kuo was the first to mention this possibility. Kuo initially said that a periscope lens would be a feature of the iPhone 14 Pro, but now he says he expects the type of lens to arrive with the iPhone 15 Pro, a prediction made by analyst Jeff Pu as well.
In a periscope system, light entering the telephoto lens is reflected by an angled mirror toward the camera’s image sensor. The change in the direction in which the light travels allows for a longer “folded” zoom setup inside the phones, allowing users to enlarge the image without any distortion.
It is noteworthy that Apple faced a crisis following the Shanghai authorities imposed strict measures to stay at home, as mainland China faces the worst outbreak of the Corona virus since the initial stage of the epidemic in early 2020.
According to local and international newspapers, the government shutdowns, which began in late March, have threatened to disrupt global supply chains. It shows the risks associated with Apple’s reliance on manufacturing in China.
Pegatron collects regarding 20% to 30% of all iPhones, according to Nikkei Asia. And Bloomberg News Agency reported that the Taiwanese company has been able to continue production so far because the Chinese government has allowed some manufacturers to continue operations via a closed-loop system to reduce the chances of infection.
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