Sources familiar with the situation say Apple has reduced its orders for iPhone memory chips from its main supplier Samsung Electronics. The industry source says that Apple will use Toshiba, Micron-owned Elpida, and SK Hynix as chip suppliers.
South Korea-based Samsung has been Apple’s primary supplier in the past, and “is still on the list of initial memory chip suppliers. But Apple orders have been trending down, and Samsung is making up for the reduced order from others, notably Samsung’s handset business,” the source told the Korea Economic Daily
Samsung provides both DRAM and NAND storage for the iPhone, iPad, and iPhone lines.
The source denied that the cut in orders was driven in any way by the ongoing patent disputes currently being fought between the tech monoliths. Samsung remains the sole producer of the Apple-designed A-series processor powering the iOS device line.
Samsung has reportedly been taking steps to ensure that the legal conflicts do not spill over into the companies component partnerships. At an emergency meeting in Seoul, executives are said to have talked about keeping an “internal firewall” in place between the company’s phone segment and component supply group.
