The bruising patent battles and a disagreement over cost has led to the first round of iPhone 5 units being built without Samsung-made memory or displays.
Apple and Samsung have always had an odd relationship: while on one hand, Cupertino and its Android rival have brained each other in patent litigation courtrooms, on the other hand, they have been steadfast partners, with Samsung acting as a major supplier of processors and displays for the iPhone. Last year, there was sound evidence that Apple attempted to shift processor manufacturing away from Samsung, but apparently was just not able to find a replacement that could ensure the same level of quality and reliability.
This year, however, it seems that the tension between Apple and Samsung has finally led to a definitive split between the two companies.
According to SlashGear,
“Samsung’s memory and displays will be absent from the first batch of Apple’s new iPhone, insiders claim, after pricing and legal disagreements saw the Cupertino firm slash orders from its long-time rival. Patent fight tensions and arguments over costs have led to a stalemate of sorts, insiders tell Reuters and Bloomberg, though Apple is also believed to be working to reduce its reliance on any one individual company. However, Apple hasn’t been able to entirely oust Samsung from its iPhone 5 supply chain: the processor powering the new smartphone will apparently still be produced by the South Korean firm.”
To me, this is a big deal — on the same level, or similar at least, to when Macs switched to Intel. Changes in component suppliers can lead to a sea change in quality and performance. With Intel, it was definitely an improvement. Will cutting Samsung out of the picture help or hurt in this regard?
Well, at present, it appears as though Samsung is still going to be producing the processors, which is an obvious indication that Cupertino can not yet afford to completely cut ties with Samsung. But the fact that they will not be producing the displays — which are rumored to be of a completely new in-cell design and perhaps featuring this new, wacky aspect ratio — means that there are a lot of “moving parts” to the iPhone 5′s screen production this year.
For Samsung, none of this can come as good news.
In addition to losing their patent battle and having to deal with potentially crippling limitations on their own product development, not to mention what this could all mean to their sales of the GS3 and Galaxy Note 2 in the U.S., now, they are set to see an inevitable drop in revenues by seeing their account with Apple get rolled back. Is there panic at Samsung? I would think so.
In the past, those who follow tech news often saw Samsung and Apple as inextricably linked; that Samsung had a major hand in the development of the iPhone, and that, ironically, without Samsung, perhaps the iPhone would not be the iPhone that so many people know and love. But with Apple on the precipice of releasing its first completely overhauled iPhone design in over two years — and without the same level of Samsung-made components — it appears that Apple is ready to move on without them.
By Michael Nace
Source : iphone5newsblog[dot]com
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