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Samsung turns screws on Apple, hikes A6 processor price 20%

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Samsung has hiked the price of processors used in Apple's iDevices by 20 per cent and the fruity firm has had to suck it up, Korean newspaper Chosun Ilbo said.

A source told the paper that Samsung said it wanted more moolah for its application processors and Apple has had to accept this because no one else can fulfil the contract, the WSJ has reported.

Despite Apple's attempts to diversify away from its ever more bitterly hated rival, shifting RAM and flash storage to its other suppliers, no other chip firm can churn out Apple's processors like Samsung, forcing Cupertino to accept the price hike.

Apple and Samsung have been locked in what increasingly looks like a patent deathmatch as the Korean firm's Galaxy range competes for top spot with Apple's iPhones and, to a lesser extent, fondleslabs.

Samsung lost one battle in the war in the US, when a jury decided that Sammy was infringing on fruity IP and awarded Apple just over $1bn. But Samsung has been trying to get that verdict overturned on claims of jury misconduct.

In the meantime, Apple has been the one losing out in the UK, forced to post a statement in newspapers and on its website stating that Samsung's Galaxy Tab 10.1 does not copy its iPad.

The tech infighting is hottest between Apple and Samsung, although the fruitchomp firm has taken other Android manufacturers to court too. Google-owned Motorola has a number of cases with Apple and HTC once did too, although just this weekend the Taiwanese firm reached a settlement. HTC agreed to a 10-year licence agreement, the terms of which are confidential. ®

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Wonder how much that price hike brought in?

$1bn, by any chance?

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Re: Wonder how much that price hike brought in?

Quick back-of-the-envelope stuff:

Apple quarterly sales 17 million iPad + 26 million iPhone* = approx 172mil iDevice / year

Wholesale processor cost - $13**

20% increase per processor = $2.60

by 172 million devices = $447.2 million, or approx $1/2 billion.

Considering that due to supply contracts, existing designs, no alternative supplier etc that Apple is probably stuck with Samsung-built processors for at least a couple of years, the $1bn total is pretty spot on!!

*source - engadget.com

**source - isuppli.com

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I'd love to have been a fly on the wall at Apple...

[after the trial]

Guy 1 : WOO, we won $1 billion, let's all go and get laid, whose turn is it to pay?

Guy 2: yours!

[today]

Guy 1 : Umm, Samsung have just upped their prices 20%

Guy 2: Shoot, how much extra is that going to cost us?

Guy 1: bout.... $1 billion a year....

Guy 2: Crap, lets find another supplier.... QUICK!!

Guy 1 : There isn't another supplier who can meet our demands!

Guy 2 : Oh, bugger.

34
0

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