Winners and Losers: PS5 hits sales landmark, and Apple Watch gets banned

It’s Christmas Eve, which means this is the penultimate Winners and Losers column of the year, as we determine the biggest winners and losers this week in the tech industry. 

Despite people hurrying to wrap presents before Santa comes calling, there’s still been time for plenty of big tech news. We’ve seen rumours point towards a February 2024 release for the Apple Vision Pro headset, while Microsoft has been flexing its AI muscles by revealing that its Copilot software can generate entire songs from a single sentence. 

And yet, neither of those stories have quite been noteworthy enough to get the official winner or loser gong of this week. Keep reading on for our verdict:

Winner: PlayStation 

The PS5 and Xbox Series X have been tussling for over three years now in the latest console generation war, and it looks like we may already have a winner. This week, Reuters reported that the PS5 has sold a whopping 50 million units.

The Financial Times reports that the PS5 has outsold the Xbox Series X by three to one in 2023, with the sales of Xbox consoles falling by 15% this year, whereas the PS5 sales have only increased in momentum with a mighty 65% increase. 

By hitting that 50 million mark, the PS5 has now already outsold the likes of the original Xbox, Nintendo 64 and GameCube. It’s still got a long way to catch up with the PS4, which is reported to have sold 117.2 million units. But it’s important to remember that the PS5 was hamstrung by severe stock issues in the first few years of its launch, making the latest sales figures even more impressive. 

So what next for Xbox? Microsoft insists that console sales aren’t the sole metric for success, especially now the company is switching its attention to its Game Pass subscription service. You could also argue that Xbox has a bright future, with Microsoft recently finalising the historic acquisition of Activision Blizzard, giving them control over popular franchises such as Call of Duty, Diablo, Overwatch and more. 

But as PlayStation’s landmark sales figures show, Xbox still has a long way to go to close the gap in this one-sided rivalry. 

Loser: Apple

If you’re over in the USA and plan on buying the Apple Watch Series 9 or Watch Ultra 2, you may have to act quick, as Apple has announced plans to pull the wearables from all stores across the country – both online and in stores. 

This drastic move is a result of the US International Trade Commission applying an import ban on the two watches, ruling that Apple has infringed a patent owned by medical device company Masimo. The dispute revolves around the pulse oximetry technology found inside the SpO2 sensor of the two wearables – the Apple Watch SE lacks this sensor, and so is unaffected by this ban. 

Apple is said to be appealing the decision, but the ITC has confirmed that it will not be halting the ban in the meantime. It’s difficult to know what this means for the future of the Apple Watch Series 9 and Watch Ultra 2 in the USA, but it’s certainly not a good look for Apple. 

Those of us outside of the USA won’t be affected by the ban, so anyone living in the UK will still be able to buy the two watches without issue. But there’s no doubt that these events could have significant ramifications for the Apple Watch series in the future.