Anyone who dreams of Apple giving a “This is Sparta!”-style thrust-kick to rival Samsung, forever booting it out of Cupertino’s production process, is going to be sorely disappointed.
If anything, Apple’s leaning more heavily than ever on its longtime frenemy, with new reports claiming Samsung created a standalone team of around 200 employees dedicated exclusively to building new screens for iPads, MacBooks and possibly future Apple Watches.
The move benefits both Apple — which gets Samsung’s top-quality displays out of the bargain — and Samsung, which is relying more than ever on its display and semiconductor business after a decline in its handset sales. To strengthen management, Samsung Display is said to have split its liquid-crystal display and organic light-emitting diodes departments as of April 1, according to a spokesman for the company.
Samsung is also going to make Apple’s A9 processor chips for its next iPhone at the company’s Giheung plant in South Korea. In doing so it wins back orders Apple had previously handed over to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. for the A8 chip.
Today’s report claims Apple is now the biggest external customer for Samsung components.
Source: Bloomberg