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ATHKA Olympiad Achieves Record Enrolment in Kingdom with over 260,000 Saudi Students

ATHKA Olympiad Achieves Record Enrolment in Kingdom with over 260,000 Saudi Students
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ATHKA Olympiad Achieves Record Enrolment in Kingdom with over 260,000 Saudi Students

ATHKA Olympiad Achieves Record Enrolment in Kingdom with over 260,000 Saudi Students

National Olympiad for Programming and Artificial Intelligence (ATHKA) has set a record with over 260,000 Saudi male and female students from intermediate and secondary levels participating.

Representing over 10,000 schools in the Kingdom, this makes it the largest national Olympiad to reach such extensive participation. The surge in involvement indicates a significant rise in the Kingdom's youth awareness and interest in programming and AI technologies, SPA reported.

The substantial engagement with ATHKA highlights the successful collaboration between the Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA), the Ministry of Education, and the King Abdulaziz and His Companions Foundation for Giftedness and Creativity (Mawhiba).

Together, they aim to bolster ATHKA as a national initiative nurturing a generation proficient in programming and AI, aligning with the objectives of Saudi Vision 2030 for human capacity development.

In April 2023, the Kingdom secured the second position globally in societal awareness of AI. This achievement follows a survey demonstrating increased confidence among Saudi citizens in utilizing AI products and services.

The Artificial Intelligence Index's sixth edition report by Stanford University indicates a high level of trust among Saudi citizens in embracing AI within the Kingdom.

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Apple’s China Market Share Shrinks as Huawei Surges, Data Shows 

A woman walks past a logo of Apple Inc in Wuhan, Hubei province July 24, 2013. (Reuters)
A woman walks past a logo of Apple Inc in Wuhan, Hubei province July 24, 2013. (Reuters)
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Apple’s China Market Share Shrinks as Huawei Surges, Data Shows 

A woman walks past a logo of Apple Inc in Wuhan, Hubei province July 24, 2013. (Reuters)
A woman walks past a logo of Apple Inc in Wuhan, Hubei province July 24, 2013. (Reuters)

Apple's market share in China shrank by two percentage points in the second quarter of 2024, as the tech giant faced intensifying competition from rivals like Huawei, according to data from market research firm Canalys.

The decline underscores the difficulties the US tech giant faces in its third-largest market.

Huawei's smartphone shipments surged 41% year-on-year in the quarter, bolstered by the launch of its new Pura 70 series in April.

The Canalys data, while not providing specific shipment figures for Apple, showed that the company's market share in China dropped to 14% in the second quarter of 2024, a decrease from 16% in the same quarter of 2023.

As a result of this decline, Apple's ranking in the Chinese smartphone market fell from third to sixth place.

Overall, China's smartphone shipments rose by 10% in the quarter, Canalys said. Vivo was the top vendor with a share of 19%, followed by Oppo, Honor and Huawei with 16%, 15% and 15% respectively.

"Domestic manufacturers have demonstrated market leadership, occupying the top five positions in the mainland Chinese market for the first time in history," said Lucas Zhong, research analyst at Canalys.

"On the other hand, Apple faces growth pressure in the Chinese market and is actively focusing on optimizing channel management."

Huawei made a comeback to the high-end smartphone segment last August with the release of a device powered by a domestically-made chip, defying US sanctions that have cut off its access to the global chipset supply chain.

In an effort to boost sales, Apple has ramped up its discounting efforts this year to entice consumers. The US company launched an aggressive campaign in May, doubling the scale of an earlier promotion in February and offering price cuts of up to 2,300 yuan ($318.84) on select iPhone models.

Analysts expect Huawei's strong performance to continue throughout the year. Canadian research firm TechInsights projected earlier this year that Huawei's overall smartphone shipments in China will exceed 50 million units in 2024, with the Pura 70 series accounting for 10 million of those shipments.

That would make Huawei the No. 1 seller with a 19% market share, up from 12% in 2023, TechInsights has said.