Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

MacRumors

macrumors bot
Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
63,290
30,376



Apple and Samsung have long had a complicated relationship, with the two companies locked in numerous court battles linked to their competition in the smartphone and tablet marketplaces even as Samsung serves as Apple's largest component supplier. As tensions have continued to ride high between the two companies, there have been signs that Apple has been trying to cut back on its reliance on Samsung for component production.

apple_samsung_logos.jpg
The Korea Times now takes a look at how the relationship between the two companies has evolved from a "love-hate" relationship to a "hate-hate" one. The report highlights Apple's move to cut Samsung out of the chip development process for the new A6 system-on-a-chip found in the iPhone 5, with Samsung simply serving as a foundry to manufacture the chip and no longer contributing its expertise to designing Apple's chips.
According to industry sources, Apple has not collaborated with Samsung in the process to develop its A6 microprocessor used in its latest iPhone 5. Samsung has handled the manufacturing of the processors used in previous iPhones and believed to have contributed in their design to some degree.

Apple is still relying on the Korean firm to manufacture its chips but has made it clear it will no longer use its rival's technology, according to a senior Samsung official.

"Samsung's agreement with Apple is limited to manufacturing the A6 processors. Apple did all the design and we are just producing the chips on a foundry basis," he said on the sidelines of a technology fair at KINTEX in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province.
With Apple having recently hired Samsung chip designer Jim Mergard and reportedly seeking to shift A-series chip production to TSMC, it seems that Apple is seeking to further distance itself from Samsung. It remains to be seen, however, just how cleanly Apple can sever its component relationships with Samsung, as the Korean company's technical and manufacturing expertise in some cases make it difficult to shift to other suppliers.

Article Link: Apple and Samsung Moving into 'Hate-Hate' Relationship
 

jasonefmonk

macrumors 6502
May 5, 2011
385
431
Ugliest title possible for this. They have a business relationship, jesus.

Edit: They censor words here?
 

Tingler

macrumors member
Oct 14, 2012
77
0
Microsoft must be feeling left out these days.

Not really. Microsoft and Apple signed an agreement not to copy each other in the mobile phone market so seeing Apple part ways with another competitor, Samsung, only encourages more innovation and competition on Microsoft's part.

The only one who is being left out here is Samsung.
 

thefourthpope

Contributor
Sep 8, 2007
1,391
738
DelMarVa
Not surprising, where else was this heading? But 'hate-hate' is a little dramatic. It's business. They're both out to make as much money as they can
 

Rocketman

macrumors 603
This is consistent with my post days ago. I have updated it to reflect the factual citation.

https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/16024766/

Rocketman

Academic quote of the day:
"On the other hand, imagine that fiscal policy dominates
monetary policy. The fiscal authority independently sets
its budgets, announcing all current and future deficits and
surpluses and thus determining the amount of revenue
that must be raised through bond sales and seignorage.
Under this second coordination scheme, the monetary
authority faces the constraints imposed by the demand for
government bonds, for it must try to finance with
seignorage any discrepancy between the revenue demanded
by the fiscal authority and the amount of bonds
that can be sold to the public. Although such a monetary
authority might still be able to control inflation permanently,
it is less powerful than a monetary authority under the
first coordination scheme. If the fiscal authority's deficits
cannot be financed solely by new bond sales, then the
monetary authority is forced to create money and tolerate
additional inflation."
- Some Unpleasant Monetarist Arithmetic, by Thomas J. Sargent (2011 Nobel Prize winner, Economics, with Sims) and Neil Wallace. Advisers: Research Department, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, and
Professors of Economics University of Minnesota.
Seignorage is expanding the monetary base or printing money.
 
Last edited:

SirDaav

Guest
Jun 26, 2010
32
0
From Korea with Hate

is it really because of hate? or just because Apple has developed its own in house expertise? It's a natural evolution for Apple surely...

Now that Samsung is proven to have a culture of ripping Apple off however, why would they want to share any designs with them? It would be unatural to think otherwise.
 

paul4339

macrumors 65816
Sep 14, 2009
1,447
730
It's just business ... Apple has been on a drive to develop it's own chip design competency for a few years now. They had to rely on others until they mature their own shop... and now that they've are getting better at it, they probably just in-sourced the role that Samsung played. I don't think hate played a role, if they have the skill set in-house, they would do it themselves.

.
 

blackhand1001

macrumors 68030
Jan 6, 2009
2,599
33
First Microsoft, then Google, now Samsung.

Apple knows how to burn bridges. They really need to learn how to play nice in the sandbox. And I doubt that Samsung didn't help apple with the chip designs. It makes no sense not to collaborate with who fabs your chips. Collaboration allows them to design it better and hopefully get better yields which is what pretty much makes or breaks your chips success.
 

Zunjine

macrumors 6502a
Jun 26, 2009
715
0
Businesses don't "hate" each other :confused:

They compete, steal, copy, emulate, aspire towards, but hate?

Businesses clearly lack the capacity to feel emotion but board members are humans and they can be as emotional as a bride who's flowers are late.

I think, overall, this is a good thing for the electronics market and, potentially, for Apple. Apple doesn't want to be reliant on anyone and there are other manufacturers who, with Apple's investment, could probably start competing more with Samsung - if anyone is a big enough player to really boost Samsung's major competitors, it's Apple.

Strategically I guess Apple's business to Samsung was not only about making money but also about stopping the billions of dollars of business going to their competition who could use it to springboard themselves into the race with Samsung. Apple is one massive chip on that table.
 

Zunjine

macrumors 6502a
Jun 26, 2009
715
0
Apple knows how to burn bridges. They really need to learn how to play nice in the sandbox.

Apple has a healthy relationship with MS and, if anything, it's Google who did the bridge burning when they developed Android while leaving their CEO on Apple's board.

Apple seems to have excellent relationships with a number of players - Twitter and Facebook, for instance.
 

tasset

macrumors 6502a
May 22, 2007
572
200
It surely hasn't helped that Samsung has proven shameless in replicating Apple. But even if they had not, this is smart business anyway. Allowing your component suppliers to move up the value chain (look at the history of Asus and their affect on Dell), then you allow them to eat your lunch in the long term. Best to have multiple competitive suppliers and thereby weaken their efforts to gather strength.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.