Apple Hikes Japan Price of iPhone by Nearly a 5th

A woman walks past an Apple logo in front of an Apple store in Saint-Herblain near Nantes, France, September 16, 2021. REUTERS/Stephane Mahe/Files
A woman walks past an Apple logo in front of an Apple store in Saint-Herblain near Nantes, France, September 16, 2021. REUTERS/Stephane Mahe/Files
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Apple Hikes Japan Price of iPhone by Nearly a 5th

A woman walks past an Apple logo in front of an Apple store in Saint-Herblain near Nantes, France, September 16, 2021. REUTERS/Stephane Mahe/Files
A woman walks past an Apple logo in front of an Apple store in Saint-Herblain near Nantes, France, September 16, 2021. REUTERS/Stephane Mahe/Files

Apple Inc has hiked by nearly a fifth the cost of its flagship iPhone phone in Japan, which is battling a weakening yen currency and rising inflation.

The Cupertino, California-based manufacturer's entry level iPhone 13 now costs 117,800 yen ($870), Apple's website showed, compared to 99,800 yen previously.

With the dollar up 18% against the yen year-to-date, the higher cost of the iPhone, which dominates Japan's smartphone market, comes as consumers' wallets are being squeezed by price hikes for daily necessities.

Such widespread hikes are a change for most Japanese following years of stable prices for many products.

Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.



SDAIA, KAUST Launch MiniGPT-Med Model to Help Doctors Diagnose Medical Radiology through AI

SDAIA, KAUST Launch MiniGPT-Med Model to Help Doctors Diagnose Medical Radiology through AI
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SDAIA, KAUST Launch MiniGPT-Med Model to Help Doctors Diagnose Medical Radiology through AI

SDAIA, KAUST Launch MiniGPT-Med Model to Help Doctors Diagnose Medical Radiology through AI

The Center of Excellence for Data Science and Artificial Intelligence at the Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA) and King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) have introduced the MiniGPT-Med model.

The large multi-modal language model is designed to help doctors quickly and accurately diagnose medical radiology using artificial intelligence techniques.

Dr. Ahmed Alsinan, the Artificial Intelligence Advisor at the National Center for Artificial Intelligence and head of the scientific team at SDAIA, explained that the MiniGPT-Med model is capable of performing various tasks such as generating medical reports, answering medical visual questions, describing diseases, locating diseases, identifying diseases, and documenting medical descriptions based on entered medical images.

The model was trained on different medical images, including X-rays, CT scans, and MRIs.

The MiniGPT-Med model, derived from large-scale language models, is specifically tailored for medical applications and demonstrates significant versatility across different imaging methods, including X-rays, CT scans, and MRI. This enhances its utility in medical diagnosis.

Dr. Alsinan highlighted that the MiniGPT-Med model was developed collaboratively by artificial intelligence specialists from SDAIA and KAUST.

The model exhibits advanced performance in generating medical reports, achieving 19% higher efficiency than previous models. It serves as a general interface for radiology diagnosis, enhancing diagnostic efficiency across various medical imaging applications.