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Korean tech giant Samsung Electronics mocked its rival Apple on social media last week, after some iPhone users came forward complaining that their alarms had failed to go off. In a post on Instagram, Samsung UK shared a dog meme alongside text that reads: “Rest assured our alarms go off.” It also wrote: “Samsung users woke up on time today.” According to industry sources, some iPhone users recently complained on social media, including TikTok, of inconveniences when no alarm sound is produced despite the users setting an alarm. Apple has confirmed that there is an issue and experts are working to fix the problem, but the company has not yet shared what is causing the glitch. Some device experts have speculated that the problem is caused by a feature that automatically reduces notification sounds due to the iPhone’s special features. The Attention Aware features allow the iPhone to automatically lower sound alerts and dim the display screen when users are not looking at their smartphones. There were also reports that the Apple HomePod speaker is having trouble telling users the time, according to MacRumors. The HomePod and HomePod Mini are reportedly having trouble responding to voice requests asking, “What time is it?” Instead of Siri verbally giving a response, users say it has been directing them to check their iPhones. Since the issue emerged, Siri is reportedly responding to “What time is it?” but it still does not answer the question when phrased in other ways such as, “What’s the time?” or “Can you tell me the time?” On May 1, Apple also revealed that iPhone sales had dropped in nearly every country in which it operates in Demand for its flagship smartphone devices fell by more than 10 per cent in the first three months of 2024, as sales sank in every region except Europe. As a result, Samsung reclaimed the No. 1 spot in terms of shipment volume in the global smartphone market in the January to March period, according to market tracker Counterpoint Research on May 5. Samsung’s global smartphone market share stood at 20 per cent, beating Apple’s 17 per cent in the first quarter. The Korean firm reclaimed the top spot after having fallen to second in the previous quarter. THE KOREA HERALD/ASIA NEWS NETWORK