Top 3 tech, startup and sustainability stories of the week -

Airbnb, Apple and Telegram are this week’s tech and startup stories

Starting from this week, I will be sharing top 3 tech, startup and sustainability stories of the week. This weekend I chose stories about Airbnb, Apple and Telegram within my perspective.

1-iPhone sales 24% down in China

iPhone sales fell down 24% in the first six weeks of 2024, according to a report by Counterpoint Research. Analysts at Counterpoint Research explained that the overall mobile market in China went down 7% with companies covering Apple, Oppo and Vivo.

The issue for Apple has been continuing for a year since China’s economy slows down, and trade tensions and nationalism heat up. And it resulted that customers are now turning to national brands, such as Huawei and others. (By the way I have story about Apple and the company increased service fees in Turkey. Click here to see the story)

“Primarily, [Apple] faced stiff competition at the high end from a resurgent Huawei while getting squeezed in the middle on aggressive pricing from the likes of Oppo, Vivo and Xiaomi,” Mengmeng Zhang, a Counterpoint senior analyst, emphasized in a press release. “Although the iPhone 15 is a great device, it has no significant upgrades from the previous version, so consumers feel fine holding on to the older-generation iPhones for now.”

iPhone sales down 24% in China (Image: Apple)

2- Telegram hits 900mln users, considers possible IPO

Telegram, based in Dubai, considers an IPO as the company goes towards profitability and user numbers rise to 900 million, founder Pavel Durov explained the Financial Times.

The messaging app is making “hundreds of millions of dollars” in revenues after launching advertising and premium subscription services two years ago, he said.

“We are hoping to become profitable next year, if not this year,” Durov told the newspaper. He underlined potential investors, including global late-stage tech funds, valued his company at over USD30 billion.

Currently, Telegram owns 900 million monthly active users, up from 500 million at the beginning of 2021. At the moment, the timeline and specific venue remain undisclosed, Telegram has explored various options for its potential IPO.

Telegram considers IPO (Image: Bloomberg)

3- Airbnb bans indoor security cameras

Airbnb will not allow owners to use indoor security cameras, regardless of where they’re placed or what they’re used for. The company announced the change aims to “prioritize the privacy” of renters goes into effect on April 30th.

Airbnb used to let owners build security cameras in “common areas” of listings, including hallways, living rooms, and front doors. The company required hosts to disclose the presence of security cameras in their listings and make them clearly visible, and it banned hosts from using cameras in bedrooms and bathrooms.

In addition, listings will have to include noise decibel monitors, which hosts might use to measure whether there’s a party going on in their rental that has banned by the company in 2022. “These changes were made in consultation with our guests, hosts, and privacy experts, and we’ll continue to seek feedback to help ensure our policies work for our global community,” Juniper Downs, Airbnb’s head of community policy and partnership, explained in a statement.