Although the jury trial is over, the feud between Apple and Samsung wages on.
Apple continues to rely on rival and business partner Samsung as a source for iPhone and iPad components like processors, memory chips, and display technology. But according to a recent report from Reuters, Apple has started migrating its memory chip orders away from Samsung and onto other manufacturers.
"The challenge for Apple (or any company making electronics) is that Samsung is such a huge supplier of DRAM and NAND," IHS analyst Mike Howard told Wired via email. "They have around 40 percent market share and it’s difficult to not have them as a supplier."
However, Howard says Apple is increasingly looking to Elpida for DRAM for the iPhone and iPad. "While Elpida has been a supplier to Apple for a long time, their share has certainly increased over the past year," Howard said. Reuters reported that the Korea Economic Daily also said Toshiba and Korean company SK Hynix are slotted to pick up the slack on Apple's supply of memory chips, as well.
Despite this news, don't expect Apple to completely sever ties with Samsung as a component supplier any time soon.
"There don't seem to be as many changes as you might think, considering what’s going on," NPD analyst Paul Semenza said. "I’m sure Apple would like to get away from Samsung, but the reality is, getting some of these displays and chips at the specs and volumes they require is not easy." And of course, Apple's huge orders are good for Samsung's bottom line, too.
Not surprisingly, there also looks to be continued litigation between Apple and Samsung on the horizon. Apple put the Samsung Galaxy S III and Galaxy Note in its crosshairs in a suit first filed in February and amended this month. And the Korea Times reports that Samsung Electronics has confirmed plans to sue Apple if its next iPhone, which is expected to be unveiled in San Francisco Wednesday, is 4G LTE.
A South Korean court recently ruled that Samsung did not infringe on Apple's patents, and that Apple was in violation of two of Samsung's 3G-related patents, prompting a sales ban which Apple is now trying to rescind. In the U.S., Apple and Samsung's jury trial came to a close last month and found that Samsung was in violation of many of Apple's design patents. The jury decided Samsung owed Apple close to $1.05 billion in damages.
