While most people are thinking of Apple and Samsung as being direct competitors these days -- Samsung's Galaxy S is often touted as a worthy competitor to Apple's iPhone -- their relationship isn't all War of the Roses. Samsung doesn't just sell their own products, but they manufacture a wide variety of components that other companies, such as Apple, need to purchase. Case in point: Apple and Samsung are reported to near to closing a deal worth $7.9 Billion for the purchase of components to be used in existing and upcoming iPhones and iPads. According to the Wall Street Journal, the $7.9 Billion deal is said to relate to the liquid-crystal display panels for the next generation of the iPad, as well as mobile processors and flash memory for iOS devices.
Apple turned to Samsung to purchase more components because iOS devices are selling astronomically well. At this point, the shelves are nearly bare and Apple needs to do whatever it can to keep churning out iPhones and iPads, and Samsung makes some really great displays.
Whether this will impact Samsung's production volume of their just-announced Galaxy S II remains to be seen, of course, but even if it does, nobody's making out poorly here; Apple gets more devices to sell, and Samsung would nearly $8 Billion dollars worth of guaranteed income to play with.
[via Digital Daily at AllThingsD]
