4 Things We Didn't Know About The Samsung Apple Relationship

The mystery of the Apple-Samsung relationship remains largely unsolved. But Japan's Nikkei offered more evidence on Monday that chip-level relationships are hard to end.
The results of an earlier Nikkei Electronics' analysis were published in Monday's Nihon Keizai Shimbun, Japan's largest business daily. The analysis showed a Samsung-manufactured A7 processor inside the 5S.

This follows analysis done in September by Chipworks that also showed a Samsung-made A7. The A7 is Apple's newest processor that is used in the iPhone 5S, iPad Air, and iPad Mini Retina. It is the first 64-bit processor to be used in a consumer smartphone.

Samsung is still the world's largest provider of the processors, memory chips, and screens that Apple needs for its devices. The two also have a history together in which Samsung has been creating custom chips for the iPhone maker, the Journal noted. That working relationship is difficult to establish elsewhere from scratch.

Apple, Cupertino, Calif.,has cut back on some purchases. It no longer buys iPhone screens from Samsung and has reduced iPad-screen purchases, suppliers say. And Apple has been buying more flash-memory chips—an essential component for storing data—from other makers, say former Apple executives and officials at another chip supplier.

Apple's serious relationship with Samsung goes back to early iPod music players in the 2000s. For the first few years, iPods used tiny hard drives to store tunes. But Apple wanted to use flash-memory chips, which are more reliable and use less power.

Tim was opposed to the lawsuit, largely because of Apple's supplier relationship with Samsung.

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Steve Jobs was the one that really wanted to go after Samsung in the courts once he saw how it was copying the iPhone and the iPad.

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