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Luxury electric vehicle manufacturers are eroding Tesla’s advantage

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Luxury electric vehicle manufacturers are eroding Tesla's advantage

Electric-vehicle sales seem to be traveling in two directions at once.

On the one hand, that EV sales are rising and that it seems like everyone and their brother is purchasing one, yet these claims are swiftly succeeded by alarming news reports that show the complete opposite.

For example, Hertz Global Holdings (HTZ), a major player in the car rental industry, recently announced that it intended to sell off about one-third of its global fleet of electric cars due to declining resale values and rising repair expenses.

According to the business, it will reinvest the earnings from the sale of about 20,000 EVs this year to purchase conventional gas-powered vehicles.

According to a new study by S&P Global Mobility, households with automobiles that run on internal combustion engines are more likely to switch to hybrid or plug-in hybrid vehicles than entirely electric ones.

Consequently, a number of automakers have shelved or canceled plans to increase the number of electric vehicles, and former President Donald Trump has attacked EVs, saying they’re “too expensive” and “don’t go far enough,” according to CNN.

EVs are a rapidly expanding auto market

However, according to Cox Automotive’s Kelley Blue Book, last year’s fastest-growing car-sales category was electric vehicles, which accounted for 7.6% of the U.S. vehicle market in 2023 (up from 5.9% in 2022).

With sales that were 52% higher than in the fourth quarter of 2022, EV sales set records for volume and market share.

From October until the end of December 2023, 317,168 EVs were purchased by Americans, accounting for 8.1% of total new automobile sales.

According to Stephanie Valdez Streaty, director of Industry Insights at Cox Automotive, “there is a strong momentum for more when it comes to EVs – more new product, more incentives, more inventory, more leasing, and more infrastructure – and that momentum is not going away.”

According to Streaty, it appears increasingly likely that internal combustion engine and electric vehicle (EV) transactions will be priced equally in the upcoming years.

She stated that purchasers, who currently consider EV pricing to be unaffordable, will benefit from this. She stated that “our team forecasts that EV share of the total U.S. market will reach 10% in 2024.”

However, the average cost of a new EV last month was estimated by Kelley Blue Book to be $50,789, indicating that EVs are still pricey.

Changes in tax incentives will benefit and hurt consumers in the next year. Dealers will be able to apply tax credits at the moment of sale, but fewer vehicles now qualify.

Additionally, Kelley Blue Book stated that the slowdown is real even though records were established.

According to Kelley Blue Book, “the EV market in the U.S. is still growing, but not as fast.”

That might be a challenge for Tesla, particularly in the fiercely competitive luxury market.

Cox: The EV ‘Year of More’ is 2024

With 55% of the electric cars that Americans bought last year coming from the Elon Musk-led company, Tesla (TSLA) continued to lead the EV industry.

“Tesla remains the undisputed champion of EV sales in the U.S.,” Kelley Blue Book said.

Although the sales numbers were lower than 65% in 2022, Kelley Blue pointed out that Tesla was able to hold onto its top spot in 2023 because to an intensive price-cutting drive.

The Model X full-size SUV saw a nearly 12% decline in sales, the Model Y midsize SUV saw a roughly 57% increase in sales, and the Model S luxury sedan saw a nearly 50% decline in sales.

Last year, the Model Y overtook the Toyota (TM) Corolla to become the best-selling car globally, making history as the first electric car to hold the top place.

“One of the most popular electric cars on the road thanks to excellent electric range, loads of in-car tech, and swift acceleration, especially in the Performance trim,” is how the auto review company Edmunds describes the Model Y.

Tesla surpassed BMW (BMWYY) by more than 156,000 registrations to become the best-selling luxury brand in the United States in 2022, according to Automotive News.

But in 2023, BMW and other German automakers performed well, reducing Tesla’s lead. Sales of BMW nearly tripled (up 191.3%) for the year and more than doubled (up 102% ) for the fourth quarter. 2023 saw sales of the BMW i4 and iX increase by 205% and 135%, respectively, year over year.

Mercedes-Benz MBGYY sales increased 90.4% in the fourth quarter and 225.7% in the entire year. With the EQS leading the way, it sold over 40,000 units of its EQ series models.

EVs made up 12.5% of all new BMW sales in the previous year. Additionally, Mercedes-Benz and Audi saw growth in their electric vehicle sales in 2023, making up 11.4% and 11% of all brand sales, respectively.

To put things in perspective, sales of Tesla’s high-end Model S and Model X fell by 50% and 12%, respectively, in 2023.

“The Cox Automotive Economic and Industry Insights team is calling 2024 ‘the Year of More’ when it comes to EVs,” the firm said. “More new product, more incentives, more inventory, more leasing, more infrastructure – all the more will combine to push EV sales higher in the year ahead.”

This could indicate that this year’s tendencies in the luxury car market hold true.

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Apple has revealed a revamped Mac Mini with an M4 chip

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A smaller but no less powerful Mac Mini was recently unveiled by Apple as part of the company’s week of Mac-focused announcements. It now has Apple’s most recent M4 silicon, enables ray tracing for the first time, and comes pre-installed with 16GB of RAM, which seems to be the new standard in the age of Apple Intelligence. While the more potent M4 Pro model starts at $1,399, the machine still starts at $599 with the standard M4 CPU. The Mac Mini is available for preorder right now and will be in stores on November 8th, just like the updated iMac that was revealed yesterday.

The new design will be the first thing you notice. The Mini has reportedly been significantly reduced in size, although it was already a comparatively small desktop computer. It is now incredibly small, with dimensions of five inches for both length and width. Apple claims that “an innovative thermal architecture, which guides air to different levels of the system, while all venting is done through the foot” and the M4’s efficiency are the reasons it keeps things cool.

Nevertheless, Apple has packed this device with a ton of input/output, including a 3.5mm audio jack and two USB-C connections on the front. Three USB-C/Thunderbolt ports, Ethernet, and HDMI are located around the back. Although the USB-A ports are outdated, it’s important to remember that the base M2 Mini only featured two USB-A connectors and two Thunderbolt 4 ports. You get a total of five ports with the M4. You get an additional Thunderbolt port but lose native USB-A.

Depending on the M4 processor you select, those Thunderbolt connectors will have varying speeds. While the M4 Pro offers the most recent Thunderbolt 5 throughput, the standard M4 processor comes with Thunderbolt 4.

With its 14 CPU and 20 GPU cores, the M4 Pro Mac Mini also offers better overall performance. The standard M4 can have up to 32GB of RAM, while the M4 Pro can have up to 64GB. The maximum storage capacity is an astounding 8TB. Therefore, even though the Mini is rather little, if you have the money, you can make it really powerful. For those who desire it, 10 gigabit Ethernet is still an optional upgrade.

Apple has a big week ahead of it. On Monday, the company released the M4 iMac and its first Apple Intelligence software features for iOS, iPadOS, and macOS. (More AI functionality will be available in December, such as ChatGPT integration and image production.) As Apple completes its new hardware, those updated MacBook Pros might make their appearance tomorrow. The business will undoubtedly highlight its newest fleet of Macs when it releases its quarterly profits on Thursday.

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Apple Intelligence may face competition from a new Qualcomm processor

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The new chip from Qualcomm (QCOM) may increase competition between Apple’s (AAPL) iOS and Android.

During its Snapdragon Summit on Monday, the firm unveiled the Snapdragon 8 Elite Mobile Platform, which includes a new, second-generation Oryon CPU that it claims is the “fastest mobile CPU in the world.” According to Qualcomm, multimodal generative artificial intelligence characteristics can be supported by the upcoming Snapdragon platform.

Qualcomm, which primarily creates chips for mobile devices running Android, claims that the new Oryon CPU is 44% more power efficient and 45% faster. As the iPhone manufacturer releases its Apple Intelligence capabilities, the new Snapdragon 8 platform may allow smartphone firms compete with Apple on the AI frontier. Additionally, Apple has an agreement with OpenAI, the company that makes ChatGPT, to incorporate ChatGPT-4o into the upcoming iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS Sequoia.

According to a September Wall Street Journal (NWSA) story, Qualcomm is apparently interested in purchasing Intel (INTC) in a deal that could be valued up to $90 billion. According to Bloomberg, Apollo Global Management (APO), an alternative asset manager, had also proposed an equity-like investment in Intel with a potential value of up to $5 billion.

According to reports, which cited anonymous sources familiar with the situation, Qualcomm may postpone its decision to acquire Intel until after the U.S. presidential election next month. According to the persons who spoke with Bloomberg, Qualcomm is waiting to make a decision on the transaction because of the possible effects on antitrust laws and tensions with China after the election results.

According to a report from analysts at Bank of America Global Research (BAC), Qualcomm could expand, take the lead in the market for core processor units, or CPUs, for servers, PCs, and mobile devices, and get access to Intel’s extensive chip fabrication facilities by acquiring Intel. They went on to say that Qualcomm would become the world’s largest semiconductor company if its $33 billion in chip revenue were combined with Intel’s $52 billion.

The experts claimed that those advantages would be outweighed by the financial and regulatory obstacles posed by a possible transaction. They are dubious about a prospective takeover and think that Intel’s competitors may gain from the ambiguity surrounding the agreement.

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iPhone 16 Pro Users Report Screen Responsiveness Issues, Hope for Software Fix

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Many iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max users are experiencing significant touchscreen responsiveness problems. Complaints about lagging screens and unresponsive taps and swipes are particularly frustrating for customers who have invested $999 and up in these devices.

The good news is that initial assessments suggest the issue may be software-related rather than a hardware defect. This means that Apple likely won’t need to issue recalls or replacement units; instead, a simple software update could resolve the problem.

The root of the issue might lie in the iOS touch rejection algorithm, which is designed to prevent accidental touches. If this feature is overly sensitive, it could ignore intentional inputs, especially when users’ fingers are near the new Camera Control on the right side of the display. Some users have reported that their intended touches are being dismissed, particularly when their fingers are close to this area.

Additionally, the new, thinner bezels on the iPhone 16 Pro compared to the iPhone 15 Pro could contribute to the problem. With less protection against accidental touches, the device may misinterpret valid taps as mistakes, leading to ignored inputs.

This isn’t the first time Apple has faced challenges with new iPhone models. For instance, the iPhone 4 experienced “Antennagate,” where signal loss occurred depending on how the device was held, prompting Steve Jobs to famously suggest users hold their phones differently. Apple eventually provided free rubber bumpers to mitigate the issue.

To alleviate the touchscreen problem, using a case might help by covering parts of the display and reducing the chances of accidental touches triggering the rejection algorithm. The issue appears on devices running iOS 18 and the iOS 18.1 beta and does not occur when the phone is locked. Users may notice difficulties when swiping through home screens and apps.

Many are hopeful that an upcoming iOS 18 update will address these issues, restoring responsiveness to the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max displays.

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