The ongoing power struggle between Apple and Samsung over who is superior is no less fierce than ever – it’s as close as a tech version of an unhappy couple trying to be better than the other. The Information recently published a juicy report on Samsung and Apple’s relationship that paints a picture of the tech world’s unhappiest marriage with eye-opening anecdotes about the two companies.
Apple and Samsung have had a complicated relationship, to say the least, as they compete fiercely in the smartphone world. Unfortunately, this has also resulted in them butting heads in court on many occasions. However, despite the periodic disputes, Apple continues to depend on Samsung for many of the displays used in their products. Controversy aside, it certainly is interesting to see how these two tech giants have interacted over time.
Samsung keeps Apple on its toes, the latter’s former employees explain how
Samsung and Apple have always been adversaries in the highly competitive flagship smartphone industry. According to multiple former Apple employees, it seems that Samsung takes this competition particularly seriously, even to the point of disallowing engineers from the iPhone maker into its manufacturing facilities.
In 2017, a team of Apple engineers flew from the US to South Korea for a meeting with Samsung’s display division team. The encounter, however, did not go as planned. In an attempt to protect their OLED screen technology, Samsung did not welcome Apple engineers into their facilities or even their office buildings. The Apple employees were asked to return to their hotel rooms to communicate with their Samsung counterparts remotely, according to a former Apple staff member.
An alternate run of events had Samsung sending millions of LCD screens to Foxconn to be utilized in the Retina version of the iPad mini. Apple uncovered a few minor defects in the screens, but Samsung declined to amend them, so Apple had to go ahead and deploy said panels.
Samsung’s expertise in screens and production makes its partnership with Apple quite unique. Apple suppliers have to take on the costs of stockpiled parts that aren’t needed, but this isn’t the case for Samsung. In fact, an ex-Apple worker recalls Samsung forcing the company to take delivery of hundreds of thousands of MacBook displays a few years ago despite Apple predicting a decrease in demand.
