“Apple’s hotly anticipated iPhone 6 could be helping to break up one of Asia’s most dependable economic relationships,” Wayne Arnold reports for The Wall Street Journal. “”
“Factory output from South Korea and Taiwan long has moved almost in lockstep as both helped meet global technology demand. But Apple is trying to reduce its reliance for parts on smartphone rival Samsung Electronics, and the iPhone 6 could pull Taiwan more firmly into a production orbit independent of Korea’s,” Arnold reports. “But Apple’s rivalry with Samsung may now be straining that linkage. Apple has long accused Samsung, its contractor, of copying its designs for use by Samsung the smartphone maker, giving rise to a long-running legal battle.”
“As a result, Apple has been trying to wean itself from Samsung. It buys its flash-memory chips from Toshiba, according to IHS. Apple won’t say where it buys its touch-screens – the most expensive part of the iPhone, at $41 each – but analysts believe they come from Japan Display, LG Display, Sharp and possibly Toshiba,” Arnold reports. “But Apple still had to rely on Samsung to provide the iPhone’s microprocessor, the brains of the device.”
MacDailyNews Take: Samsung is merely the fab that stamps out Apple’s A-series SoCs.
Arnold continues, “Last year, Apple signed a deal with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.2330.TW +0.41%, or TSMC, to start providing it with microprocessors for iPhones and iPads this year. The iPhone will likely be powered by TSMC’s A8 chip when it’s launched later this year.”
MacDailyNews Take: Again, it’s Apple’s A8 chip, not TSMC. TSMC is merely the fab that stamps out Apple’s A-series SoCs.
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