Samsung told The Korea Times on Monday that it will end its LCD panel supply relationship with Apple as of next year.
Apple was already clearly trying to reduce its reliance on its rivals component supplier arm, as indicated by changes to the way it designs its processor and sources RAM and NAND flash chips, but this may accelerate Apples intended timeline.
Thats according to a senior Samsung source who declined to be identified, citing insufficient margins owing to Apples supply pricing strategy.
The report claims that Samsung shipped approximately 15 million LCD panels to Apple in the first half of 2012, with the pace falling to 3 million panels in the third quarter and expected to drop to 1.5 million in the fourth quarter as Apple has shifted to other suppliers.
Apple was Samsungs top customer according to NPD DisplaySearch for the first half of the year, but Apple began cutting its LCD orders back in September and was reportedly shifting order volumes to LG and Sharp, as ongoing patent disputes worsened.
And with Apple reportedly cutting back on memory orders from Samsung and now designing its own A series chips while using Samsung simply as a contract foundry, it seems clear that Apple is steadily reducing its reliance on Samsung as the two companies have continued to face off both in the marketplace and in courtrooms around the world.
Samsungs role in Apples LCD supply chain has dwindled, with the Korean company reportedly cut out of iPad mini production, but Samsungs decision to pull the plug may have been a pre emptive strike by the parts manufacturer owing to a declining relationship between the two.
Sam Connelly is a business journalist based in Dublin, Ireland. Sam has a passion for financial markets and breaking news stories and loves writing about business news, stock market, and economic opinions that matters most to its audience. Sam spends a lot of time discovering and researching latest financial markets and industry news stories in order to make sure the latest and greatest stories are brought to you first on BigBoardNews.com.
