Apple cut its order for memory chips slated to go into the upcoming iPhone 5, according to a report at Reuters this evening. Citing a “source with direct knowledge of the matter,” the report says that while the South Korean chip manufacturer is still on the list as an initial supplier of memory chips for the new iPhone model, but that Apple continues to decrease its reliance on Samsung as a chip supplier.
An earlier report from The Korea Economic Daily had reported that Apple had dropped Samsung from the list of suppliers, and named Japan’s Toshiba Corm, Elpida Memory, and Korean-based SK Hynix to supply the chips. The person familiar with the matter says this is not true.
“Samsung is still in the list of initial memory chip suppliers (for new iPhones). But Apple orders have been trending down and Samsung is making up for the reduced order from others, notably Samsung’s handset business,” the source told Reuters.
The source also denied the idea that the lowered orders had anything to do with the current litigation between the two technology superpowers, stating that Apple had already been looking to strengthen its position by adding more chip suppliers, in order to avoid any supply issues when the iPhone 5 is launched September 12th as expected.
Reuters also reports that earlier this year, Elpida Memory planned on selling half of it’s stock of memory chips to Apple, which would help confirm the theory that Apple isn’t “punishing” Samsung due to the landmark patent case in Northern California last month, in which Apple received a favorable verdict as well as over one billion dollars in damages.
Source: Reuters
