Enterprise

Here’s why Apple failed in 2018, according to Tim Cook

Blames China, cheap battery replacements

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Image source: Apple.com

For most of the year, Apple’s 2018 was one of the most turbulent periods in the company’s recent history. Despite launching three new phones, Apple trudged through a flurry of controversies and feuds with other companies. The company is facing a whirlwind of legal battles in different fronts, including China and Germany. Now, as 2019 gears up for its go, Apple reflects on the ups and downs of 2018.

In a publicly available investor’s note, Apple CEO Tim Cook shared his thoughts on what led to a tumultuous 2018. Among others, he enumerated the company’s troubles in China, the cheapened battery replacement program, and the success of non-iPhone properties.

Of course, Apple’s difficulty in China is well documented. For one, the company is up against more popular Chinese brands like Xiaomi and Huawei. Apple is doing poorly in the country. “In fact, most of our revenue shortfall… occurred in Greater China across iPhone, Mac, and iPad,” Cook said. Besides that, the company’s older models are banned because of Qualcomm.

While China (and other emerging markets) caused most of Apple’s downfall, another sizable chunk comes from the lack of iPhone upgrades. Existing iPhone users have stopped upgrading to the latest models. According to Cook, “some customers [are] taking advantage of significantly reduced pricing for iPhone battery replacements.”

In 2017, the company ran into a planned obsolescence issue. Apple purposely slowed down its older models to supposedly promote upgrading. As a result, the company offered a cheaper battery replacement program to stave off obsolescence. Because of increasing prices, most consumers preferred new batteries over new phones. While the decision was right for consumers, Cook is now mulling over the plan’s side effects.

To Apple’s credit, the company is enjoying success outside of the iconic iPhone. Apple’s services, wearables, MacBook, and iPad offerings “grew almost 19 percent.” Their services, including aftermarket care, generated US$ 10.8 billion in revenue. Wearables grew by 50 percent. At the very least, Apple succeeded in other fronts.

With that, Cook remains hopeful for the company’s future. “Most importantly, we are confident and excited about our pipeline of future products and services,” he concluded.

Of course, Apple’s future depends on more than its head honcho’s high hopes. As 2019 begins, the company is still facing several battles elsewhere. Apple is still undergoing an arduous appeal process to reverse China’s decision to pull out the company’s products. The company’s stock crashed by 38 percent since October. The future is still a blurry mess for the company.

SEE ALSO: Apple: New iPad Pro is ‘tighter than previous generations’

Automotive

How the Ford Ranger is powering community resilience

Through machine and technology, Ford Philanthropy is helping Gawad Kalinga bridge the gap for remote communities.

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Strong communities aren’t just built with bricks and mortar. They are sustained by the hands that reach out and the wheels that get them there.

For Gawad Kalinga (GK), reaching the most isolated provinces in the Philippines is often the biggest hurdle to delivering hope.

To bridge this gap, Ford Philanthropy and Ford Philippines recently handed over the keys to a brand-new Ford Ranger Sport 4×4.

During the launch of the “Ford Building Together” initiative at the GK Headquarters in Mandaluyong, the Ranger was introduced as a vital partner for GK’s nationwide relief operations.

The Ranger provides the performance and off-road capability needed when every second counts.

More than a mission

“Strong communities are built through strong partnerships,” said Mary Culler, President of Ford Philanthropy.

Alongside Pedro Simoes, Managing Director of Ford Philippines, Culler highlighted how this initiative unites dealers, employees, and owners.

It’s a collective effort to scale the heart of what Ford does: moving people forward.

Through Operation Walang Iwanan, Ford has already equipped disaster response hubs across six regions with essential tech: from Starlink mini-satellites and EcoFlow solar power to water filtration systems.

Between 2024 and 2025, these tools supported over 11,500 individuals through fires and natural disasters.

Investing in the everyday

The impact stretches into the daily moments of community life. Since 2015, Ford’s partnership with GK has reached 15,000 patients through medical missions. They also trained 1,100 health champions.

Through the Kusina ng Kalinga program, children receive the nutrition they need to stay focused in school. Meanwhile, the new READ program provides 12 weeks of literacy support for students in Caloocan.

Even food security is getting a tech-driven boost. Ford has renewed its collaboration with Scholars of Sustenance Philippines, using mobility to rescue surplus food. It is then redistributed to families experiencing hunger in Nueva Vizcaya.

In the end, technology lives inside these real moments. By combining grassroots action with reliable mobility, Ford and Gawad Kalinga are ensuring that no community is ever truly out of reach.

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Enterprise

AMD poised to lead agentic AI era with high-performance CPUs

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AMD is prepared to lead the industry in its agentic AI era with their high-performance CPU strategy.

As the industry pivots from simple AI models to agentic AI systems that are capable of independent planning and decision-making, the CPU is reclaiming its role as the critical “head coach” of the data center.

This was noted by AMD CEO and Chair Dr. Lisa Su during the AMD Advancing AI event last year. The rise of autonomous agents has transformed inference into a complex and multi-step workflow that demands sophisticated logic and orchestration.

And while high-performance GPUs are necessary to generate insights in real time, the surrounding infrastructure is just as important.

This is where CPUs enter the picture. Their performance and efficiency are more important than ever in the overall performance of modern AI infrastructure.

And AMD delivers an advantage with their offerings. In recently published data, a 5th Gen AMD EPYC CPU-based system is estimated to perform up to 2.1x better per core against an NVIDIA Grace Superchip-based system.

The same system AMD-based system also delivers up to 2.26x uplift on SPECpower, measuring operations per watt.

The x86 CPU architecture gives customers the advantage of a broad, proven software ecosystem that can run existing workloads natively.

This avoids the costly refactoring and code-base duplication often required when switching to Arm-based alternatives.

Looking ahead, AMD is doubling down on the balanced system philosophy. Future architectures such as the “Venice” CPUs will power the “Helios” rack-scale AI design.

By integrating EPYC CPUs with Instinct GPUs and the ROCm software stack, AMD aims to maximize cluster-level performance and lower the total cost of ownership in the agentic era.

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Enterprise

Nintendo sues the United States

The Japanese company wants a refund for illegal tariffs.

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What happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object? After a year of wrestling through tariffs from the current American administration, Nintendo has decided to sue the United States.

Last year, the Trump administration was trigger-happy with implement tariffs on countries everywhere. Though the controversy mostly circulated around geopolitics, major corporations also found themselves on the receiving end of Trump’s ire. All over the world, the tariffs sparked product delays and price hikes.

Nintendo is no exception. As a result of the fiasco, the company had to delay the launch of the Switch 2, in anticipation of disruptions caused by the tariffs. First reported by Aftermath, the Japanese gaming giant is now going after the American government over refunds associated with the tariffs.

Now, the tariffs aren’t a big issue anymore. Notably, the Supreme Court scratched off the White House’s implementations that the former found illegal. While a big sigh of relief for future business, corporations like Nintendo have already paid duties and deposits in the past. As a result, Nintendo is now looking for recompense for what they paid before.

Nintendo isn’t the first company to seek restitution over the illegal tariffs. Others, including FedEx and Revlon, are also asking for refunds. However, the Japanese giant is certainly one of the biggest names to cross the government’s path. After all, the company is notoriously litigious over anything it considers as an affront to its business, including small streamers using Pokémon on their broadcasts.

With all its global resources, Nintendo likely won’t just give up without a fight.

SEE ALSO: The Nintendo Switch is now Nintendo’s best-selling console ever

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