Apple to buy $11B worth of parts from Samsung in 2012. Up from $7.8B last year
By Vlad Bobleanta on 13 Mar 12With all the news about all the different legal spats between Samsung and Apple coming in virtually every week, one could assume that the two companies are engaged in a life or death fight ‘to the end’. And that they hate each other.
While that may be true on one level, on another they’re best friends. Or close, anyway. See, Samsung is one of Apple’s biggest suppliers, and has been for a few years now. What’s interesting is that the Korean company expects to sell more parts to Apple this year than ever before.
As the court battles get nastier, the amount of cash Samsung makes from Apple increases. That’s a bit ironic, isn’t it? One might even go so far as to say that Apple is indirectly financing Samsung’s Android devices which the Cupertino company claims are ‘copies’ of its products.
But that’s the complicated tech world we live in. Apple believes that “Samsung is the only parts maker in the world ideally positioned to meet all of the critical conditions – better pricing, technolgically-enhanced products, on-time delivery and the capability to immediately respond to any emergency situation”, one source told The Korea Times.
Late last year, Apple CEO Tim Cook and Samsung Electronics COO Lee Jay-yong met in California and decided to extend their contract until the end of 2014.
For 2012, Apple is expected to order up to $11 billion in parts from Samsung, compared to $7.8 billion in 2011. The $11 billion figure is a maximum estimation from one Samsung exec. The contract stipulates orders of $9.7 billion this year, but that could go up depending on demand for Apple products.
If the rumored 7.85-inch iPad Mini turns out to be real and will be unveiled later this year, the $11 billion level may be reached easily. So yes, the better Apple products are doing, the more money Samsung makes.
If you liked the post, you might find these interesting too:
- LG plans to ship 35 million smartphones this year, 8 million with LTE
- Both Samsung and Apple get sales bans after patent infringement lawsuit in South Korea
- Half of all Samsung mobile processors will go to Apple this year
- Samsung plans to ship 510 million mobiles in 2013, 390 million of which will be smartphones
- Apple sues Samsung for imitating the iPhone and iPad designs
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Anonymous
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