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Apple Inc. introduced new iPhone 14 models capable of using satellites to send emergency messages and an adventure-focused Ultra Watch for sports like diving and triathlons.
The outdoor-focused products will test whether Apple’s relatively affluent customer base will keep spending in the face of rising inflation.
Prices of the high-end iPhone 14s are the same as last year’s iPhone 13 models. But Apple dropped its cheapest option, the iPhone mini, meaning the cheapest model now costs $100 more than last year.
The iPhone 14 will start at $799 and the iPhone Plus at $899 and be available for preorder starting Sept. 9. The iPhone Pro will cost $999 and the iPhone Pro Max $1,099 and be available Sept. 16.
“It’s interesting that they decided to essentially maintain pricing despite inflationary pressure,” said D.A. Davidson analyst Tom Forte. “The decision or the strategy is Apple believes that it can sustain margins by discontinuing a lower-priced device in the lineup.”
Apple said its satellite SOS will work with emergency responders. It also said that in some situations, users will be able to use its FindMy app to share their location via satellite when they have no other connectivity.
The service will be free for two years with the iPhone 14. Apple did not say what would happen after that period.
Shares in Globalstar Inc. jumped 20 percent on Wednesday after the satellite services firm announced it will be the satellite operator for Apple’s emergency SOS service.
Apple will pay for 95 percent of the approved capital expenditure for the new satellites that would be needed to support the service, but Globalstar said it will still need to raise additional debt to construct and deploy the satellites.
The stock had gained almost 70 percent from mid-June to Tuesday’s close, following speculation of working with Apple.
Other companies are working on similar functions. SpaceX founder Elon Musk said last month it is working with T-Mobile to use its Starlink satellites to connect phones directly to the Internet.
Apple’s iPhone 14 Plus model will have a larger screen like Apple’s iPhone Pro models but an A15 processor chip like the previous iPhone 13.
The Cupertino, California-based company also showed a trio of new Apple Watches, including a new Watch Ultra model aimed at extreme sports and diving and designed to challenge sportswatch specialists such as Garmin and Polar.
“Apple is competing for a consumer segment that already has high loyalty toward their existing products and vendors, and it will need to prove itself over time,” said Runar Bjorhovde, an analyst at Canalys.
The Ultra has a bigger battery to last through events like triathlons and better waterproofing and temperature resistance to operate in outdoor environments, as well as better GPS tracking for sports.
The new Watches include an upgraded budget model called the SE and a Series 8 Watch with crash detection and low-power mode for 36 hours of battery life.
The Series 8 with cellular will start at $499 and the SE will start at $299 with cellular. The Ultra, which includes cellular in its base model, will start at $799 and be available Sept. 23.
Apple said the new Series 8 watch has a temperature sensor that will work in conjunction with its previously released cycle tracking app to retroactively detect ovulation. The company emphasized the privacy approach of its cycle tracking. Privacy and reproductive health data has become a focus for tech companies in the wake of a US Supreme Court decision that ended a constitutional right to abortion in the United States.
Apple said it does not have the key to decrypt health data such as cycle tracking.
Apple also touted that its second-generation AirPods Pro will double the amount of noise cancelation over the original version.
But while accessories like the Apple Watch have driven incremental sales from Apple’s existing user base, the iPhone remains the bedrock of its business with 52.4 percent of sales in its most recent fiscal year.
Apple’s stock was up 0.8 percent after the presentation, lagging the S&P 500’s gain of 1.8 percent for the session.
Apple did not give any hints or a preview of its mixed-reality headset on Wednesday. The device is expected to have cameras that pass-through view of the outside world to the wearer while overlaying digital objects on the physical world. Analysts do not expect the device to go on sale until next year at the earliest.
A rival headset called Project Cambria is in the works from Meta Platforms Inc, which is spending billions of dollars on the project.
(Reporting by Stephen Nellis in San Francisco; Additional reporting by Nivedita Balu in Bengaluru; Editing by Peter Henderson and Lisa Shumaker)
RIYADH: The global oil demand is expected to increase over the third quarter to approximately 100.6 million barrels per day, according to a report on petroleum developments in global markets issued by the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries.
This is in line with expectations that the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development group’s demand would rise to about 47 million bpd, and the rest of the world’s demand would rise to about 53.6 million bpd.
This is also despite the fact that preliminary estimates indicate global oil demand fell to about 98.3 million bpd during the second quarter, down by 1 percent from the same period last year.
The report also revealed that OECD demand fell 0.7 percent during the second quarter to about 45.5 million bpd, whereas the remainder of the world’s demand fell 1.2 percent to about 52.8 million bpd.
The monthly average price of OPEC crude oil fell to $108.32 per barrel in July 2022, about 8 percent below the previous month.
OPEC has projected that in 2022 the common annual value of a basket of crude oil will rise to $105.71, an increase of 51.3 percent over the previous year.
The report indicated that the common value of an OPEC crude oil basket reached $117.7 per barrel in June 2022, up 3.3 percent compared with May 2022.
This is primarily due to strong fundamentals in the oil market, high refiner demand, high profit margins, as well as supply disruptions in several key production areas, such as Libya and Ecuador.
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s main index gained ground in the first session of the week, triggered by higher crude oil prices.
The Tadawul All Share Index gained 0.90 percent to end at 11,940 on Sunday, while the parallel market Nomu added 1.47 percent to 20,737.
Saudi oil giant Aramco climbed 1.5 percent, while Rabigh Refining and Petrochemical Co. edged down 1.01 percent.
Al Rajhi, the Kingdom’s largest valued bank, edged up 1.4 percent, while Alinma Bank advanced 1.78 percent.
The Saudi National Bank, the country’s biggest lender, gained 1.21 percent, while Saudi Arabian Mining Co., known as Ma’aden, increased 1.59 percent.
Lazurde Co. for Jewelry gained 9.97 percent to lead the gainers early in trading, whileAl-Rajhi Co. for Cooperative Insurance edged down 4.5 percent to lead the fallers.
Abdulmohsen Alhokair Group for Tourism and Development edged up 1.29 percent, as it entered negotiations with its unit to acquire hotels currently leased by the group.
Among the gainers, Seera Group Holding added 7.11 percent, while Alamar Foods Co. increased 6.67 percent.
In energy trading, Brent crude futures closed on Friday higher at $92.84 a barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate traded at $86.79 a barrel
RIYADH: The second edition of the Saudi International Iron and Steel Conference will kick off on Sept. 12 in Riyadh, with the participation of regional and global industry leaders and experts, as the Kingdom aims to become a major player on the map of the global steel industry.
Organized by the National Iron Industry Committee of the Federation of Saudi Chambers, the event will be held under the patronage of the Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources Bandar bin Ibrahim Al-Khorayef, and the Minister of Investment, Khalid Al-Falih, Saudi Press Agency reported.
Saudi Arabia’s push to develop the mineral and mining industry comes as a part of the Kindom’s effort to diversify its economy, which has been dependent on oil for several decades.
Touted as the largest of its kind in the region, the event will be inaugurated by Ministers Al-Khorayef and Al-Falih, along with Ajlan bin Abdulaziz Al-Ajlan, president of the Federation of Saudi Chambers.
The first day will witness an exhibition in which the conference sponsors from various prominent steel industries, representing Saudi Arabia, Gulf countries, and international companies, participate.
On the second day, Nayef Falah Mubarak Al-Hajjraf, Secretary General of the Gulf Cooperation Council, will deliver a speech.
This will be followed by the first working session, where Osama Al-Zamil, deputy minister of industry and mineral resources; and Khalid Al-Mudaifer, vice-minister for mining affairs, will speak along with other experts.
There will also be a bilateral dialogue session titled ‘The Status of the Iron and Steel Market in the Middle East and North Africa,’ with Edwin Basson, executive director of the World Steel Association.
The third session on the second day, ‘Game Changers in the Global Iron and Steel Market,’ will be held with the participation of five speakers.
Among them will be representatives from the World Steel Association, the Indian Iron Federation, Germany-based Baosteel Europe, a Turkish steel company, and a senior partner of McKinsey Globalism.
The fourth and final session on the second day of the conference, titled ‘Supply Chains, Energy, and Raw Materials,’ will have speakers including Louay Mashabi, undersecretary for logistics services at the Ministry of Transport and Logistics; Abdul Rahman Al-Thukair, CEO of the Saudi Export Development Authority, in addition to three CEOs of the Gulf region and international steel companies.
Earlier in September, the UK-based steelmaker J.O. Steel Holdings announced that it will invest $865 million to build an integrated billet manufacturing plant in Saudi Arabia’s Ras Al-Khair Industrial City.
The investment is in line with the Saudi government’s National Steel Strategy, which aims to expand Saudi flat steel production as a part of Vision 2030.
The third and final day of the conference will begin with a speech from Nadhmi Al-Nasr, CEO of NEOM, the Kingdom’s $500 billion Giga project, followed by another speech from Rayed Al-Ajaji, chairman of the National Iron Committee, and president of the conference.
It will end with a dialogue session titled ‘Lessons Learned and Next Steps’ where Al-Khorayef along with international personalities will talk as keynote speakers.
RIYADH: Spoilz Games, a Riyadh-based video games publisher, is considering listing on the Saudi market in the next three to five years, its CEO told Arab News.
Talking about the attractiveness of the Saudi stock market for tech companies, Musab Al-Malki said it was “too early to think about listing the company.”
“We expect to reach around SR826 million ($220 million) of investments in the next 3-5 years,” he added.
Al-Malki said the growth rate of the company will be around 30 times by 2023 due to huge market demand. The growth pace, he said, “will help us to take quick steps in the coming period.”
Spoliz has grown exponentially since its launch, Al-Malki said, adding that “We are proud of our team growth by 120 percent. We are working with local and global partners, who specialize in talent acquisition, and user acquisition as well.”
He highlighted the growth of the Saudi non-oil sector with a particular reference to the Kingdom’s fast-growing gaming industry. “I believe revenues from the gaming industry were valued at SR6.3 billion in 2021, it is predicted to reach SR18.7 billion by 2025.”
“This makes the Middle East and North African region a key growth area for the global video games industry. Take into consideration, 60 percent of MENA revenues are derived from the Saudi market,” he added.
“At Spoilz, we have developed a strategy to build games that focus mainly on the local market, to create jobs, and assisting other companies or developers to expand and make more games to leverage this high spending growth from local users,” the CEO added.
Al-Malki also spoke about the support, his company received from STC’s InspireU program.
“They are a great supporter for us, they connect us with the right type of local and international advisers, support us with government entity requirements, and provide Spoilz with the right exposure.”
InspireU is an accelerator program launched by Saudi Telecom Co. to support startups and entrepreneurship in the region. Since its inception in 2015, it has helped incubate 75 emerging projects, including Spoilz.
Talking about the launch of a new game, Al Malki said: “It is based on the history of the Arabian peninsula, it will be announced very soon.”
He revealed that the motivators to create the game are “the players,” as they needed something new and unique.
In January, a report from Boston Consulting Group predicted that Saudi Arabia is expected to take a leading role in the gaming and esports industry as consumption is projected to reach $6.8 billion by 2030, up from $959 million in 2020.
The report expected an average annual compounded growth rate of 22 percent for Saudi gaming consumption.
Founded in 2020, Spoilz Games won two prizes in a game jam, organized by Nine66, a subsidiary of PIF-backed Savvy Games Group.
CAIRO: A consortium led by US-based Bechtel has been selected for the front-end engineering and design contract for a unified power system that will link gas infrastructure in Egypt, reported MEED.
The clients of this project are UK-based oil and gas company Shell, the Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Co., and publicly owned Petronas in Malaysia.
The scope of work includes linking an onshore gas processing plant for the West Delta Deep Marine gas fields in the Mediterranean Sea to the Egyptian Liquefied Nitrogen Gas export terminal on the east of Alexandria.
“The synergies will include optimization of the number of running gas turbine generators, modeling the most efficient operating mode for both plants, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and economizing the fuel consumption in the entire hub,” disclosed Bechtel.
Bahrain’s EWA receives bids for Al DUR IWPP
Deloitte and Touche, KPMG Fakhro, and Ernst & Young Middle East have submitted technical bids for the consultancy services contract for the third phase of Al Dur Independent Water and Power Plant.
The client on the project is Bahrain’s Electricity and Water Authority.
Through this third phase, the project aims to achieve an additional 1,500 to 1,800-megawatt capacity combined cycle power plant and a 50 million imperial gallons per day desalination plant.
Sharjah to begin work on the first Tier 3 data center
A joint venture formed between Khazna Data Centres and BEEAH Digital is on its way to creating the first Tier 3 data center in Sharjah, reported Construction Review Online.
This project will align with the government’s digital transformation initiative, and pave the way for other data centers in the UAE to follow this path.
The nine-Megawatt center will include full redundancy grade power, in addition to environmental control systems and high-tech security.
