Rare! Warren Buffett suddenly sold Apple.
After the market on Wednesday local time, Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway's latest 13f documents for the fourth quarter of 2023 show that Berkshire Hathaway bought 10 million shares of Apple in the fourth quarter of last year, with a market value of about 18 based on the average stock price during the period2.2 billion US dollars (about 13.1 billion yuan). However, Apple is still Berkshire Hathaway's largest stock, accounting for 50% of disclosed holdings19%。
At the same time, Apple's blockbuster products suffered a "rollover". The Apple Vision Pro, which starts at $3,499 (about 25,000 yuan), has been on sale in the United States for less than two weeks, and Google search trends show that searches for "returned Apple Vision Pro" have surged. According to a report by Phoenix.com Technology, on February 14, Beijing time, Apple's Vision Pro has begun to receive returns from users one after another.
In addition, a personnel change about Apple's design team has also attracted attention. On February 14, Bloomberg reported that, according to people familiar with the matter, Bart Andre, Apple's longest-serving senior industrial designer, is leaving his post. This marks the dissolution of the "soul team" led by former Apple designer Jony Ive, who created Apple's aesthetic.
Warren Buffett suddenly sold off
After the market on Wednesday local time, Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway's latest 13f documents for the fourth quarter of 2023 show that Berkshire Hathaway bought 10 million shares of Apple in the fourth quarter of last year, with a market value of about 18 based on the average stock price during the period2.2 billion US dollars (about 13.1 billion yuan). The company's stake in Apple fell to 59%。
At present, Apple remains Berkshire Hathaway's largest heavy stock, accounting for 50% of disclosed holdings19%。According to Dow Jones Market data, the stake was worth about $167 billion on Wednesday.
It is worth noting that Apple's stock price performance has not been satisfactory recently, and it has obviously fallen behind in the camp of large technology companies in the United States, and has lost the crown of the most valuable company in the United States. As of the latest**, Apple's cumulative year** exceeded 4%, and the Nasdaq index rose more than 5% in the same period. In contrast, Nvidia soared 49%, and Microsoft rose by 91%, Google rose more than 4%.
At the same time, Apple faces a series of challenges, including regulatory scrutiny of its App Store policies, declining sales in the Chinese market, and investor concerns about its growth prospects. Several analysts have downgraded the firm.
According to the latest disclosed 13F documents, Berkshire also increased its holdings in Hewlett-Packard in the fourth quarter of last year, while increasing its holdings in Chevron and Occidental Petroleum. The company's heavy holdings include Apple, Bank of America, American Express, Coca-Cola, and Chevron. As of the end of the fourth quarter, the total size of the ** holdings was $347 billion, an increase of $34 billion from the previous quarter.
Apple's "big rollover".
Less than two weeks after the Apple Vision Pro was released in the United States, Google Search Trends data shows that searches for "returned Apple Vision Pro" have surged.
On February 14, Phoenix.com Technology reported that less than two weeks after its launch, Apple's first headset Vision Pro has begun to receive returns from users one after another.
Some users listed the reasons for the return on the social platform X (formerly Twitter), mainly including:
1. It is very heavy to wear on the head, although the Vision Pro seems to be very light, but in fact the weight reaches 600 650 grams, close to 12The weight of the 9-inch iPad Pro.
2. It is not friendly to the eyes.
3. It gives me a headache, and every time I put it on, I get a headache for hours.
4. There aren't enough apps, and it lacks a lot of essentials like Chrome and Grammarly if you want to use the device to get things done.
5. It's too big to carry, and it can't even fit in a backpack.
6. Anxiety about battery life, the battery capacity of Vision Pro is only 3166mAh, and after a maximum of two and a half hours, this thing will run out of power.
Farzad Mesbahi, a YouTube tech blogger, said, "I can't use it as a tech productivity device. ”
He said that even if he could sit comfortably, it would be inconvenient to wear a device on his head and face. You won't use your headset for as long as you would on your smartphone, tablet, and computer.
According to Phoenix.com Technology, some users admit that they bought Vision Pro to return it, just to experience its features. One user, Matt Schneider, bought the Vision Pro (and subsequently returned it) and likes to use it to browse Instagram and YouTube. "If Apple thinks I'm going to pay $4,000 for it, they're crazy," he said. ”
It is worth mentioning that Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook's parent company Meta, also experienced Vision Pro, and the results may have given him a sigh of relief. Since Meta's headset is in direct competition with Vision Pro, the quality of Apple's headset will directly affect Meta.
On February 13, local time, Zuckerberg posted a ** on Instagram, commenting on Vision Pro. Zuckerberg filmed this in his living room using the penetration mode of the Quest 3 (Meta's VR device).
Zuckerberg said that after using Vision Pro, "I don't just think Quest is more cost-effective, I think it's a better product, and I don't accept rebuttal."
He believes that the Quest 3 weighs 120 grams less, making it easier to wear comfortably for long periods of time. It has a greater range of motion due to the lack of a wired battery pack, and it also has a wider field of view than the Vision Pro.
As of press time, Apple has not responded to these criticisms, nor has it specified the current volume of returns.
On February 2, local time, Apple's Vision Pro was officially launched in the United States. According to Apple's official website, the 256 GB version is priced at $3,499 (about RMB 2.)50,000 yuan); The 512GB version is priced at $3,699 (about RMB 2.)670,000 yuan), and the 1TB version is priced at $3,899 (about RMB 2.)80,000 yuan).
The "soul team" that created Apple's aesthetic was disbanded
On February 14, Bloomberg reported that, according to people familiar with the matter, Bart Andre, Apple's longest-serving senior industrial designer, is leaving his post. This marks the dissolution of the "soul team" led by former Apple designer Jonny Yves to create Apple's aesthetic.
Mark Gurman, a well-known Apple whistleblower, recently wrote that Andre joined Apple with Yves in 1992, earlier than Jobs's "second palace". As Yve's senior deputy, André helped create the aesthetics of all the products Apple has released over the past three decades and is one of the employees who holds the most Apple patents.
Gurman said that the designer, who has worked at Apple for more than 30 years, told colleagues that he was retiring, according to people familiar with the matter. This is undoubtedly another huge blow for Apple, and at the end of 2023, top designers Colin Burns, Shota Aoyagi and Peter Russell-Clarke have already announced their departure.
According to Gurman, in the last dozen years, Yves' core design team has consisted of about "two dozen" designers, or about 24 people. After Yves left Apple in 2019, the team began to churn, with many joining LoveFrom, the design company that began working with Apple two years ago.
It comes after news that Sam Altman, CEO of AI research firm OpenAI, has planned to partner with Yves' LoveFrom to develop hardware devices for consumers, and they also hope to secure more than $1 billion in financing from SoftBank.
Talking about the reasons for the departure of designers such as Andre, people familiar with the matter explained that in 2023, Apple's chief operating officer Jeff Williams (Jeff Williams) began to directly manage the industrial design team, resulting in some employees in the team being dissatisfied, and they found it difficult for them to accept that the design and innovation department should be managed by the operation staff.
Employees of the design team also said that cost-cutting measures had exacerbated the turmoil in the department, as Yves had led exploratory projects that did not necessarily pay off immediately and were now tightly regulated.
Apple CEO Tim Cook once said that Apple has a very detailed ** people plan, and Williams is one of the popular candidates in the outside world.
Editor-in-charge: Lin Gen.
Proofreading: Zhu Tianting.