Mikey Campbell
A report on Wednesday reveals Samsung recently formed an internal team to make displays expressly for Apple, highlighting the curious position the Korean tech giant currently finds itself as supplier to one of its most bitter rivals.
Sources claim Samsung dedicated around 200 employees to a specialized unit created specifically to serve Apple's iPad and MacBook display needs, a move meant to foster stronger ties with the Cupertino tech company, reports Bloomberg. The unit was supposedly created on April 1, the same day Samsung split its display arm into two units handling LCD and OLED technology.
According to people familiar with matter, Samsung employees working on the special team also help develop display technologies for Apple and are thus not allowed to share product information with colleagues outside the group. Affording this level of secrecy to a single client can hardly be considered business as usual, but makes sense for a company like Apple, which so highly values discretion.
Samsung's initiative is similar to an LG program that also fields a display unit largely dedicated to Apple devices.
It appears Samsung is looking to regain standing with Apple after a high profile falling out led to a worldwide court battle over smartphone patents. In August of 2014, both parties agreed to settle all non-U.S. litigation, leaving two California cases currently under appeal.
In addition to a dedicated display team, Samsung is heavily rumored to be the manufacturer of Apple's next-generation A9 system-on-chip processor that will power future iPhones and iPads. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., the world's largest chip maker, produces current A8 SoC variants, but Samsung's ability to scale its advanced 14-nanometer fabrication process reportedly netted it the contract for 2015.
Malcolm Owen
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Chip Loder
Marko Zivkovic
31 Comments
Tim should do a Steve on this and put many people from Apple on fabbing their own chips and displays. Buy Sharp and LG display? Poach employees away? Poach employees away from Samsung display? Anything to kill this soulless copy cat company. There needs to real consequences here.
Interesting. Is Apple dancing with the enemy, to their long term disadvantage? The have more sense... don't they?
[quote name="Ireland" url="/t/185775/samsung-dedicates-200-employees-to-display-team-focused-solely-on-apple-products#post_2710135"]Tim should do a Steve on this and put many people from Apple on fabbing their own chips and displays. Buy Sharp and LG display? Poach employees away? Poach employees away from Samsung display? Anything to kill this soulless copy cat company. There needs to real consequences here. [/quote] While reading the Bloomberg report, I sensed it was another "boost Samsung's image" at a time Apple's image is shining brighter. It was rumored Samsung's will reach the 10 million shipment mark for the S6 in two months, which will be faster than the S5, but is much slower than iPhone 6 reaching the coveted mark since Apple reached it in a weekend! The Apple Watch is being estimated to have sold nearly one million on Friday, which surpasses all Android Wear watches sold for 2014! The numbers for Apple are eclipsing the numbers for Samsung. The numbers cannot be spun to make things look great for Samsung and pitiful for Apple. So, the press turns to manufacturing to aide Samsung. I an looking forward to reading TSMC is the real winner of the A9 later this year then reading that Samsung won the A10 in 2016. Thankfully, AI has smartened up slightly to write "rumored" this time around. This Bloomberg report is a continuation of a report out of Korea last month that mentioned a new dedicated display team being created at Samsung.
I think this might be a win-win for both. Samsung just needs to decide what's best for them: competing head-to-head with Apple or becoming a trusted supplier.
Sounds like Samsung is realizing that biting the hand that feeds you is not a good idea. It is best to work with/for apple than agains them.