Oh, Samsung. We know you have a complicated relationship with Apple, building components for them with the one hand, suing with the other. But can’t you stop mouthing off about the components you’re building them about Cupertino’s top-secret upcoming projects? Keep this up and you’re likely to find yourself wearing concrete shoes at the bottom of the local reservoir.
Samsung’s latest stupid and vague mouthing off comes from an anonymous Samsung executive speaking to The Korea Times, who says that Apple has committed to buying about $9.7 billion worth of components from Uncle Sammy this year alone.
And amongst those components? iPad mini displays.
”The contract is expected to rise to $11 billion by the end of this year as Apple is planning to release a smaller iPad, probably with a 7.85-inch screen, and to sell more of its MacBook Air PCs using Samsung’s faster solid state drive (SSD) storage,” the official said.
Apple CEO Tim Cook agreed with Samsung Electronics Chief Operating Officer (COO) Lee Jay-yong to use the Korean firm’s components until the end of 2014 during Lee’s visit to his office in Cupertino, Calif., late last year.
What will this new smaller iPad’s display look like? Don’t expect retina, but according to the report, Samsung will be providing it with new PLS-based LCDs, and Apple has apparently expressed interest in OLED technology, and would like to use it if Samsung can make enough of them, but Apple doesn’t think Samsung can swing it anytime soon. Which is probably an understatement.
Take this all with a grain of salt. Apple’s called 7-inch tablets “tweeners” dismissively in the past, and the Korea Time doesn’t name their source. Still, if this report is right, we could see an iPad mini soon… maybe later this year, but my money banks on debuting with the fourth-gen iPad, if it’s going to debut at all.
[via MacRumors]
