Tech’s biggest winners and losers of 2024

A significant shift in the technology landscape marked 2024, with artificial intelligence advancements, chip innovations, and social media disruptions reshaping the industry’s competitive dynamics.

Major setbacks and failures: The year witnessed several high-profile technology disappointments that highlighted the challenges of innovation and corporate management.

• X (formerly Twitter) experienced a dramatic decline under Elon Musk’s leadership, with advertisers departing and users migrating to alternative platforms
• Tesla’s Cybertruck launch was plagued by technical issues and recalls, damaging its market reception
• Apple Vision Pro’s $3,500 price tag and lack of compelling applications limited its market impact
• Intel continued to lose ground in the processor market, struggling to compete with Arm-based alternatives
• CrowdStrike’s software update failure caused widespread system outages, damaging customer trust

Notable technological successes: Several companies and technologies demonstrated remarkable growth and innovation throughout the year.

• NVIDIA achieved extraordinary financial success, with quarterly revenue reaching $35.1 billion
• Arm-based processors, led by Apple’s M4 and Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X Elite, set new performance standards
• AI platforms like Google’s Gemini and OpenAI’s GPT series showed significant practical improvements
• Bluesky emerged as a prominent social media alternative, gaining users through its decentralized approach
• Meta’s Ray-Ban smart glasses successfully combined style with functionality

Hardware innovations: The year brought significant advances in consumer technology and smart home integration.

• Matter Protocol improved smart home functionality by enabling cross-platform device communication
• iPhone 16 demonstrated strong hardware capabilities with its A18 chip and enhanced camera system
• Open source software continued to gain prominence, particularly in AI development with models like LLaMA 3

AI and platform evolution: The artificial intelligence sector showed substantial maturation and practical applications.

• Adobe’s Firefly made professional-grade design tools accessible to non-experts
• AI wearables like the Rabbit R1 and Humane AI Pin faced challenges in market adoption
• Sonos encountered significant setbacks with software issues leading to financial losses

Future implications: As the industry moves into 2025, the contrast between successful and struggling technologies reveals important trends about market demands and technological viability, particularly in AI integration, hardware innovation, and platform sustainability.