Apple and Samsung's relationship...

[siddo_d]

Just out of curiosity how will the relationship between the two change when it comes to Samsung manufactorying processors and other components.
Keeping in mind they're in agreement. Is it likely to change when the partnership ends and will Samsung on the business end suffer and will Apple have to start doing it themselves or find another partner?

 

[Fausty82]

Just out of curiosity how will the relationship between the two change when it comes to Samsung manufactorying processors and other components.
Keeping in mind they're in agreement. Is it likely to change when the partnership ends and will Samsung on the business end suffer and will Apple have to start doing it themselves or find another partner?

Hard to say. Apple is already using parts from lots of companies besides Samsung. There's Sharp, LG, Qualcomm and probably many others.

You also have to remember that Samsung is a huge company with many semi-autonomous divisions. It's possible that the relationship won't change at all. It's also possible that Apple will try to totally move away from Samsung. Only time will tell.

I did hear one interesting anecdote over the weekend regarding these huge electronics companies... apparently Sony is fighting with itself (one division vs another) over piracy issues... Sony entertainment (the movies and music division) is concerned that other Sony divisions are producing products (phones, computers, etc) that can be used to pirate their entertainment products. True or not, I can't say, but my point is this: these companies are so big and have so many divisions and so much diversification that it's hard to know what is going on or what will happen. Literally, the left hand has no clue what the right hand is doing.

 

[anon(4698833)]

Samsung won't ditch their contract to build parts for Apple...especially after having to pay them over a billion dollars. They'll be happy to keep producing parts to try and win back some of that loss...

 

[siddo_d]

I thought the same, great point though. Thanks

 

[IAmSixNine]

Also generally speaking those are separate parts of a company.
So Samsung Mobile usually doesnt have much to do with Samsung parts or LCD or what ever that part of the company is called.

 

[Dev from tipb]

The relevant cliche for Samsung here is "Don't cut off your nose to spite your face."

( link for imore readers not familiar with US/English idioms: Cutting off the nose to spite the face - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia )

Samsung and Apple are both big companies, and big companies rarely act completely irrationally. Samsung is not going to compound the damage they suffered last week by kicking out one of the largest customers on the planet for their manufacturing divisions.

Apple for their part, may "damage" the relationship further over the next couple of years, but not out of any spite, or out of any fear Samsung may boot them, but just because Apple does not want to grow too dependent on any one supplier. Some estimates have Samsung providing 25% of the parts for the iPhone 4 Regardless of the outcome of the trial (and any appeals), Apple is smart enough to want to spread their risks around.

 

[sting7k]

Just out of curiosity how will the relationship between the two change when it comes to Samsung manufactorying processors and other components.
Keeping in mind they're in agreement. Is it likely to change when the partnership ends and will Samsung on the business end suffer and will Apple have to start doing it themselves or find another partner?

Apple pays up front and in cash for their components. Samsung won't be turning any of that business down. Cash is king.

 

[Keldog]

Samsung will just raise the price of the iPhone 5 screens by a couple of dollars a piece, and ta-da.. $1.5b in no time.

 

[Peligro911]

Samsung will just raise the price of the iPhone 5 screens by a couple of dollars a piece, and ta-da.. $1.5b in no time.

They might do that but apple could just go to lg instead also