Internet is abuzz with reports that Apple’s next flagship smartphone, dubbed as the iPhone 5, may not be featuring Samsung’s memory chips, displays and other components. Apple has reportedly shifted some memory-chip orders for its next iPhone from Samsung to other Asian chip makers in an attempt to ‘diversify’ its lines of supply for memory chips and reduce its dependence on Samsung.
Samsung, however, hasn’t been completely ousted from the iPhone 5 supply chain. Reuters quotes a person privy to the development as saying that Samsung is still on the list of initial suppliers for the forthcoming iPhone 5, which is expected to be unveiled on September 12.
The source, who declined to reveal his/her identity, rejected the notion that the move was an aftermath of the patent-war between the two companies, which recently got murkier with Samsung being asked by a US court to shell out more than $1 billion in damages to Apple for infringing upon the latter’s patents.
According to reports, Apple is now going ahead with Japan’s Toshiba Corp, Elpida Memory and Korea’s SK Hynix to supply DRAM and NAND chips. “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 Reuters source said.
Despite being a major competitor in the smartphone market, Samsung is one of Apple’s largest component suppliers. Apart from memory chips and processors, Samsung provides displays for Apple’s iPad. Wall Street Journal in its report citing other people familiar to the situation points out that the new Asian partners use different technology than Samsung. The report further says Apple anticipates huge demand for its product, thus aims to ‘diversify’ its supply chain for chips.