7 ms·

Let me figure this out: Samsung manufactures Touchscreen, CPUs and perhaps other chips for Apple, yet Apple sue them from time to time over software patents and

• mikeash 13y ago
  Say you sell lumber, and I sell furniture, and buy a lot of my raw materials from you. You start making furniture too, and your furniture seems a little too inspired by mine, maybe going over the line of what's legal, so I sue you. However, your lumber is still top quality despite that, so I keep buying your lumber even while suing you over your furniture.
  • bdcravens 13y ago
    In your example, 15-20% of your lumber sales are to me, so regardless of what happens with the furniture situation, you still want to keep selling me lumber. It's a symbiotic relationship.
• macspoofing 13y ago
  Which part is hard for you to understand? That Apple has patents that are applicable irrespective of the underlying hardware?
• mistercow 13y ago
  Maybe Apple leveraged some advantageous deal with them in exchange for not suing them anymore
• programminggeek 13y ago
  Yes, when you are working with a company and sharing trade secrets only to have them turn around and take those secrets to make their own devices that compete directly with yours and then they make commercials making fun of said products and your customers, that doesn't really help the business relationship.
  • simonswords82 13y ago
    It can't have hurt the relationship that bad if Apple haven't sourced a new provider. If I were Apple I'd pull the contract on principle but I'm sure financial forces are at play here.
    • melange 13y ago
      They are doing everything the can to source a new provider. There just aren't that many people who have the manufacturing capacity to produce these chips at scale.
  • piyush_soni 13y ago
    I keep hearing this. What are those 'secrets' that you are talking about (Any link which gives specific information?) Samsung has been making phones much before Apple has been. Are those secrets "Rounded phone corners", "icons in a grid", "Slide to Unlock", or "jumping scrollbar"?
    • jmelloy 13y ago
      Detailed definitions of the chips they are making and the strategy/prioritizations they use while upgrading them?
    • melange 13y ago
      If you really think Apple has contributed nothing more to the modern smartphone than 'rounded corners', this is not the appropriate place to ask this question because you risk being mistaken for someone trying to start a flamewar. I recommend quora instead.
      • straight_talk_2 13y ago
        Recommend Quora? Remind me to ignore your recommendations in the future. As for Apple contributions, you should probably check out the lawsuits vs Samsung.
• potatolicious 13y ago
  Gigantic multinational megaconglomerates are, well, huge. They may operate under the same overall banner, but operationally they tend to be almost fully independent entities. Many are legally distinct corporations with their own finances, budgets, and operations. Apple employing the component manufacturing arm of Samsung can occur simultaneously with Apple suing the consumer device design arm.
  • cremnob 13y ago
    The current relationship may not last much longer. It's been reported that Apple has signed a deal with TSMC for 2014.
    • X4 13y ago
      That is a great way to damage Samsung for Apple. Initially contracting them with a very high-volume and then dropping off to zero. Samsung will make a huge net-loss, if they don't partner up with Microsoft(=Nokia now) or Google in another big deal.
      • cremnob 13y ago
        I don't think Apple is as interested in being punitive (though some of it might be that) as they are in diversifying supply sources. It's probably unlikely that TSMC will exclusively build them right away, but Apple may shift more over to them if they do a good job.
      • wmf 13y ago
        It's just business. The same thing happened when Apple switched from PortalPlayer to Samsung; their stock tanked and they were bought by Nvidia.
      • X4 13y ago
        I thought upvotes and downvotes are for moderation. It's so childish to downvote someone just because you're not of the same opinion.
      • fpgeek 13y ago
• Jormundir 13y ago
  It's simple, unless Apple aggressively defends their patents, Samsung could easily create very competitive clones of Apple's products.
• Pxtl 13y ago
  Samsung does a lot of things. They build ships. The left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing. Well, it does, but it can't do anything about it. This is a big company.
• JohnBooty 13y ago
  If you've ever worked at a company with more than a single employee, surely you've noticed that not all employees necessarily know what the other employees are doing. Now imagine that scaled up to a giant corporation, with hundreds of thousands of employees, and multiple independent divisions with their own goals, strategies, and financial responsibilities.
• deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]
• diminoten 13y ago
  Companies as big as Apple and Samsung have gotten over their egos in favor of profits. Just because one company is suing the other, in no way prevents them from entering other mutually beneficial agreements.