Arnav's Musings

  When Apple quietly killed Project Titan (its decade-long secret attempt to build an electric car) in early 2024, the tech world collectively shrugged. Apple had reportedly spent billions of dollars and employed hundreds of engineers chasing the dream of a beautifully designed, software-first electric vehicle. The company was reportedly in talks  for joint production with the likes of Honda, Hyundai, and Kia. However, none of these automakers wanted to be Apple's manufacturing partner, and with autonomous driving being impossible to crack on schedule, the project eventually died without ever seeing the light of day. It seemed like the "Apple Car" was destined to remain one of Silicon Valley's great "what ifs." Fast forward just two years, and something extraordinary has happened. The Apple Car finally got made, although it has a prancing horse on the bonnet instead of a bitten apple on the boot. On May 25, 2026, Ferrari unveiled the  Luce (pronounced looo-c...

The last couple of years have seen a flurry of activity in the tech space around Artificial Intelligence, with OpenAI being the new kid on the block that set the cat (or ChatGPT) among the pigeons in 2022. Suddenly, every major tech company started to launch their own AI-based digital assistants, from Google's Gemini to Microsoft's Copilot, and even Apple's, rather amusingly named, Apple Intelligence. However, a quick look under the hood reveals that it's still not a bed of roses that these assistants had originally been promised to deliver. Last week, Apple made a surprise announcement that it is being forced to delay the launch of the Apple Intelligence-based Siri functionalities that were expected to be available in a software update by spring 2025. Below is the official statement from Apple's spokesperson Jaqueline Roy: Siri helps our users find what they need and get things done quickly, and in just the past six months, we’ve made Siri more conversational, intr...

Who is Xiaomi? Most people outside China might have never heard of Xiaomi, a Chinese consumer electronics company that was founded 14 years ago on April 6, 2010. Back then, the company designed and manufactured cheap Android smartphones, which it only sold through online flash sales. Fast forward just four years and by 2014, Xiaomi was already the leader in the fiercely competitive Chinese smartphone market. Less than a decade later, the company became the world's third-largest smartphone manufacturer (behind only Apple and Samsung)! However, you would be incorrect to assume that smartphones are all that Xiaomi currently has to offer. The Xiaomi SU7 electric sedan How did Xiaomi become a carmaker? Over the last few years, Xiaomi has been quietly building its "Human x Car x Home" smart ecosystem that brings together personal devices, smart home appliances, and automobiles through its HyperOS operating system (formerly known as MIUI, or me-you-I). The company offers an inte...

The rapid advancements in Artificial Intelligence (AI) have revolutionized various industries, and consumer technology is no exception. From smartphones and smart homes to wearables and personal assistants, AI is enhancing the way we interact with technology, making it more intuitive, personalized, and efficient. In this blog post, I have explored the seven fascinating applications of AI in consumer technology and how it is reshaping the way we live and experience the world around us. 1. Personalized Recommendations One of the most prominent applications of AI in consumer technology is its ability to provide highly personalized recommendations. Streaming platforms such as Netflix, Amazon, and Spotify leverage AI-powered algorithms to analyze user preferences, behaviors, and past interactions to recommend content, products, and music tailored specifically to each user. This level of personalization not only enhances the user experience but also drives customer satisfaction and loyalty. ...

  Apple Vision Pro At its World Wide Developers' Conference on June 5, 2023, Apple previewed the Vision Pro spatial computing headset, which might be the most "personal" device the tech giant has ever made. While industry analysts and tech YouTubers are divided over whether it is an augmented reality or virtual reality headset, I think the product demo that Apple showed at the event highlights how this headset could escalate the pandemic that nobody likes to talk about - loneliness. Watch the video below and you'll get a sense of what I'm referring to. As you may have seen in the video above, the Apple Vision Pro is a marvel of technology and a pinnacle of miniaturization. However, all the use cases of this device are extremely individualistic to the point that what used to be group activities, like watching movies or sports, can only be enjoyed by a single Vision Pro user at a time. You might think that its $3,499 price tag would prevent this device from reaching...

India is poised to soon overtake China as the country with the world's largest population (with some sources saying it might have already happened). And this seems to have caught the attention of the world's most valuable company - Apple - which opened its first two India stores this month in Mumbai and New Delhi (India's financial and political capitals, respectively). Apple BKC at Jio World Drive in Mumbai Apple has long been trying to open its own stores in India, as it aims to capture a larger share of the world's fastest growing smartphone market. The company is already a leader in the country's premium smartphone segment (>INR 30,000) and its India sales grew by nearly 50% year-over-year in March 2023, touching almost $6 billion. Apple has also increased its production of iPhones in India, which now accounts for 7% of its total iPhone production (up from just 1% in 2021). The company assembled $7 billion worth of iPhones in India during the last fiscal year...