Samsung may be a iPhone competitor, but it also loves to make money. We all know that iPhone X is going to be the next phone on the market that will take a new direction for everyone. Unlike other smartphone makers who are working day and night to create a iPhone X competitor, Samsung on the other hand isn’t so against rooting for the iPhone X.
According to a new report from The Wall Street Journal, Samsung is likely to earn about $4 billion more from iPhone X parts than from Galaxy S8 components in the 20 months following the iPhone X release. This estimate comes from Counterpoint Technology Market Research. They expect Apple to sell 130 million iPhone X units through summer 2019. Because of this, Samsung is expected to make $110 on each iPhone X sold — totaling out to more than $14 billion for Samsung.
Samsung on the other hand is expected to sell about 50 million units of Galaxy S8 in the first 20 months of sales. For the iPhone X, Samsung provides screens and memory chips. It’s the only OLED display maker that goes inside the iPhone X, and is the only supplier that can provide the volume of displays that meet Apple’s needs. Apple isn’t too fond of replying on Samsung, that’s why the company is looking to get OLED supplies from other companies, such as LG, in the coming years.
The WSJ says that Samsung sees Apple’s as “our best client.” Even though Samsung’s direct competitor is Apple, it’s definitely fine with making billions of dollars from the iPhone maker.
Samsung employees often refer to Apple with code names. One of the most popular is “LO,” short for “Lovely Opponent,” people familiar with the matter said. Apple’s descriptor for Samsung, meanwhile, is Samsung, according to people with knowledge of the situation. Employees at the iPhone maker are often critical of its rival’s devices, pointing out software and hardware flaws behind closed doors.
For the time being, Apple doesn’t have a lot of options than to go to Samsung for the parts it needs. It’s trying to diversify so it doesn’t have to rely on Samsung a lot, but for the time being, it has no other choice.
