A UK fund manager is warning Apple that it shouldn’t ruin its relationship with Samsung.
Polar Capital fund manager Ben Rogoff told The Telegraph: “Apple needs strong suppliers. Apple needs to be careful what it wishes for. If this relationship deteriorated, you’d see Apple looking to diversify its supplier base, but that’s hard to do.”
The report notes that Samsung makes application processors for Apple’s iPad and iPhone that Apple doesn’t have another source for.
Apple is Samsung’s biggest customer and its business is worth 8.8% of Samsung’s revenue. Samsung is the manufacturer of the A-series of processors – the A4 and A5 chips that Apple designs in-house and uses as the heart of the iPad and iPhone.
When Apple was reported to have secured chips from Elpida, the news wiped $10 billion of Samsung’s market cap, however, Samsung denied that the claims that Apple had stopped its orders.
Apple and Samsung took to a US court last month. The jury found Samsung guilty of infringing Apple’s patents wilfully.
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Author: Karen Haslam, Editor
Macworld editor since 2008, Karen has worked on both sides of the Apple divide, clocking up a number of years at Apple's PR agency prior to joining Macworld almost two decades ago.
Karen's career highlights include interviewing Apple's Steve Wozniak and discussing Steve Jobs’ legacy on the BBC. Her focus is Mac, but she lives and breathes Apple.