2022 ends. Let’s take advantage of this New Year to come back quickly, month by month, to 12 news items that have punctuated the year.
January: the announcement of the takeover of Activision Blizzard by Microsoft
January 2022: earthquake in the world of video games. Microsoft announces its acquisition of Activision Blizzard King for the modest sum of 68.7 billion dollars. The news is already historic in itself, but we had no idea yet of the magnitude that this extremely lively soap opera was going to take.
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We’ve even concocted a file to explain everything you need to know about the complex takeover of Activision by Microsoft.
February: the Samsung Galaxy S22
Samsung Mobile’s year really started in February. This is indeed the month when the South Korean giant launched its Galaxy S22, Galaxy S22 Plus and Galaxy S22 Ultra. Despite less than usual critical reception, this product line is still crucial in the Android phone market.
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The Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra – which we were able to use for many months – has also established itself as the best smartphone for photography.
March: the tech world against Russia
At the end of February, Russia goes to war against Ukraine. The armed conflict obviously has serious consequences for the populations concerned on the front line and on the international scene. On the tech side too, this invasion had several impacts from March, starting with a latent threat of shortages. Russia and Ukraine are indeed both major suppliers of materials used in the production of semiconductors. The production of electric cars has also been undermined.
However, the tech sector is also political. It is therefore no surprise that Apple ended its sales in Russia before being followed by Samsung and several other major brands, like Netflix, which suspended its service there. We can also cite Google Maps and Apple Plans no longer indicating traffic information in Ukraine so as not to compromise the populations. For his part, Elon Musk had decided to position his Starlink satellites above Ukraine to compensate for a possible Internet cut.
April: EU pushes to make USB-C the universal standard
One of the main tech topics of the year 2022 was caused by the Old Continent. Indeed, by imposing it as the mandatory standard for wired charging, the European Union is forcing iPhones to switch to USB-C for wired charging. However, Apple smartphones have always integrated proprietary Lightning connectors.
For Apple, this political initiative is a brake on innovation. For the EU, it is a way to reduce electronic waste by allowing users to have only one charger for all their devices. However, it was in April that the first agreement to implement this measure was reached.
May: Google I/O 2022
In May, Google I/O 2022 took place with its share of new features. The opportunity to officially discover the Google Pixel 6a, the Pixel Watch, the Pixel Buds Pro headphones. The Mountain View company even took the opportunity to teaser its Pixel Tablet and, even more surprisingly, connected glasses.
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This high mass also allowed us to take a first look at the Pixel 7 and to have some information on Android 13. Two subjects to which we return a little later in this article.
June: Apple WWDC 2022
After the Google I/O, it’s time for Apple’s WWDC 2022! The conference dedicated to developers was an opportunity to unveil, among other things, the Apple M2 chip and the MacBook Air M2. It was also on this occasion that the list of smartphones compatible with iOS 16 was unveiled, as was the pleasant novelty of the customizable locked screen. Enough to prepare for the September keynote.
July: the arrival of BYD in France
In the top 3 electric car manufacturers, a Chinese brand is in second place. However, the latter was until now not officially present with us. In July 2022, this was corrected. This is indeed the moment when BYD announced that it would sell its vehicles in Europe from the fourth quarter.
In the process, the manufacturer was present at the Paris Motor Show. And the objective of the group will obviously be to get into trouble with Tesla.
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August: Android 13 in stable version
In August, after several months of Developer Preview and then beta, Android 13 rolled into a stable version. Despite some notable new features, this version mainly consists of tweaking a few elements of Android 12. We especially hope that the deployment of updates on compatible models will be done quickly to avoid perpetuating the excessive fragmentation of Android.
Some brands are showing very encouraging signs, like Samsung and its One UI 5 interface.
September: Apple’s back-to-school keynote (iPhone 14)
Back to school is usually animated by announcements from Apple. 2022 was no exception. The Apple firm thus took advantage of its September keynote. We especially remember the formalizations of several products: iPhone 14, iPhone 14 Plus, iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max for smartphones. In addition, the three watches: Apple Watch Series 8, Watch SE (2022) and Watch Ultra. Not to mention, the AirPods 2 headphones.
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October: the Google Pixel 7
October was a very busy month for new products, especially on the smartphone side. The eyes of tech enthusiasts have obviously turned a lot to the Google Pixel 7 and Google Pixel 7 Pro.
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These two smartphones have scored a big blow after the iPhone 14 by maintaining the same prices as their predecessors while bringing new features and interesting features. The emphasis is always on photo capabilities and the Pixel Experience interface that is pleasant to use.
November: Elon Musk’s Twitter adventures
Twitter was bought by Elon Musk in 2022. However, it was mainly from November, once the acquisition was completed, that the influence of the billionaire, boss of Tesla and SpaceX, was felt on the network. social. Starting with the $8 subscription for Twitter Blue which allows, among other things, to display a verified badge on the profile, the first steps of which are particularly complicated.
More generally, it was Elon Musk’s assumption of responsibility as CEO of Twitter that was chaotic between mass layoffs and impersonation of official accounts. The businessman stood out for his controversial positions on freedom of expression and for some surprising moves. For example, he organized a poll to find out if he should leave his post as CEO.
The survey in question actually had no role. Elon Musk had already decided to find a successor, but will keep a key role in Twitter.
December: twist in the Activision x Microsoft case
In December… back in January! The takeover of Activision by Microsoft announced at the beginning of the year caused much ink to flow throughout the year. The main question is whether this maneuver is indeed a threat to healthy competition in the industry. For example, one of the concerns was seeing the license call of duty disappear from Sony’s PlayStations by passing into the hands of Microsoft (and therefore Xbox).
However, in December, another blow. The United States decides to sue Microsoft to prevent the takeover. Unsurprisingly, the Redmond firm hastened to react by supporting its arguments to convince that this acquisition was healthy for the video game.
3 timeless bonuses
2022 was also marked by less obvious news to place precisely on the calendar. We picked three.
The galloping inflation
According to a recent INSEE report, consumer prices have increased overall by 6.2% in France in one year. The vast majority of sectors have therefore been affected and the tech market has not escaped inflation.
Whether it is the price of new devices launched on the market or the price of service subscriptions, inflation has been closely linked to many news items. It would have been difficult not to mention this phenomenon among the highlights of 2022.
The eventful year for cryptocurrencies
2022 has not been a good year for cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin and Ethereum prices have fallen significantly throughout the year. To make matters worse, FTX declares itself at fault towards the end of the year. However, it was one of the main cryptocurrency trading platforms and its insolvency caused many concerns for people who had invested money in it. Not to mention the sports and esports teams sponsored by FTX who also have to deal with complications following this collapse.
Finally, another major event marked the year 2022 of cryptocurrencies: I named The Merge. This is the name of the radical change that took place on the Ethereum blockchain which went from a principle of proof of work to proof of stake. Without going into details, it is important to know that thanks to this pivot, mining on Ethereum consumes much less energy.
FUN FACT: #Ethereum‘s energy consumption fell 99.99% following its merge to proof-of-stake.
—Watcher.Guru (@WatcherGuru) December 24, 2022
Thus, since there is no need to deploy astronomical energy in the mining of Ethereum, the demand for graphics cards will be able to be reduced. Enough to avoid reliving the major shortages that hit the GPUs.
Fears around the energy crisis
As mentioned above, the war in Ukraine had several repercussions. Among them, the soaring electricity prices in France – which is also due to the shutdown of certain nuclear reactors managed by EDF.
Everyone is therefore invited to carefully monitor their energy contract and to take an interest in what off-peak hours may or may not bring. On the telecom side, Orange even warned: telephone networks could suffer cuts this winter.
Concerns also hang over electric cars: will it be possible to recharge them serenely in winter? The French government has a plan to deal with this problem, but be prepared for a price spike all the same.
At home, you can optionally connect your electric heaters to save money.
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