Samsung COO met with Tim Cook to discuss supplying 'better parts' through 2014

Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
After attending a memorial service in honor of the late Steve Jobs, Samsung's chief operating officer met with Apple CEO Tim Cook to discuss supplying the company with "even better parts" in 2013 and 2014, after its current contract ends next year.



Lee Jae-Yong, heir apparent to the family-owned Samsung Electronics empire, met with Cook for more than two hours after attending Jobs' memorial service on Sunday, The Korea Herald reports.



Arriving back in Seoul earlier this week, Lee told reporters that, despite the ongoing legal disagreement between the two companies, Samsung will continue to sell parts to Apple until 2012. On Monday, it was reported that Samsung will supply a next-generation quad-core "A6" processor to Apple next year.



Lee went on to suggest that he had talked with Cook how his company's supplier relationship with Apple will continue on after next year.



"For the 2013-2014 period, we discussed how best to supply even better parts," he said. Lee also mentioned that he and Cook had talked about past challenges and how to promote good relations between their companies in the future, the report noted.



The executive declined to comment on whether the meeting could lead to a resolution of the companies' legal dispute, saying only that his visit "was to attend the memorial service."



Apple was Samsung's second-largest client last year, behind only Sony, and is expected to take the top spot this year with an estimated $7.8 billion in component purchases.



As tensions have mounted between Apple and Samsung, rumors have swirled that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. would take over for Samsung in producing Apple's custom chips.

"There is a need to compete in a fair manner for the benefit of the consumer, and this stance existed in the past, is taking place now and will occur in the future," Lee said. According to him, the company is currently deciding whether to expand its legal actions against Apple or to hold off.



Apple first sued Samsung in April, alleging that the company had copied the look and feel of its iPhone and iPad. At present, ongoing lawsuits between the two companies number in the twenties and span more than a dozen countries.



Last month, the head of global marketing at Samsung said the South Korean electronics giant would be "more aggressive" in pursuing its rights after having held back because Apple was a client.



"We've been quite respectful and also passive in a way," the executive reportedly said. "However, we shouldn't be... anymore."



For its part, Samsung does appear to be taking steps to curb potential infringement of Apple's intellectual property. The company has indicated that, for the just-announced Galaxy Nexus smartphone, great efforts were taken to ensure that the device does not violate any known Apple patents.



"Now we will avoid everything we can and take patents very seriously," said Samsung's mobile president Shin Jong-kyun earlier this week.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 42
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post


    "Now we will avoid everything we can and take patents very seriously," said Samsung's mobile president Shin Jong-kyun earlier this week.



    This implies that it was not the case in the past.
  • Reply 2 of 42
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post


    "Now we will avoid everything we can and take patents very seriously,"



    Yeah, NOW.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by See Flat View Post


    This implies that it was not the case in the past.



    I thought more BLATANTLY SCREAMS.
  • Reply 3 of 42
    Even assuming that this meeting took place, and that it went along the lines that Lee suggested, was there a point to his blabbering? Similarly, what was this Shin guy thinking when he shot his mouth off? Didn't he realize that this makes the company look really silly, and creates potential legal jeopardy?



    Samsung senior execs would be generally well-advised to keep their mouths shut. They need better lawyers -- for starters, ones that can actually tell them to do so.
  • Reply 4 of 42
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by anantksundaram View Post


    They need better lawyers -- for starters, ones that can actually tell them to do so.



    Well, their lawyers can't tell their own devices from Apple's, so I'm not sure they should do much telling for a while.
  • Reply 5 of 42
    wizard69wizard69 Posts: 13,377member
    Apples volumes are pretty huge especially considering they are using bleeding edge technology in A5. They are most likely talking about technology beyond 28nm which is what I expect the A6 to arrive on. My understand is that 28nm is ready to roll at Samsung.



    A quad core running at 1.5 GHz will make one excellent iPad



    So maybe Apple continues to use Samsung as a supplier, but I'm pretty convinced they want a bigger supplier base for these processors. Look what is happening to HArd Disk manufacturing due to one flood. Buying every thing from Samsung is just exposing ones self to a single point failure in the supply chain. I would think that it would simply be prudent to have those chips coming from two different factories.
  • Reply 6 of 42
    mstonemstone Posts: 11,510member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by anantksundaram View Post


    Even assuming that this meeting took place, and that it went along the lines that Lee suggested, was there a point to his blabbering? Similarly, what was this Shin guy thinking when he shot his mouth off? Didn't he realize that this makes the company look really silly, and creates potential legal jeopardy?



    Samsung senior execs would be generally well-advised to keep their mouths shut. They need better lawyers -- for starters, ones that can actually tell them to do so.



    Was it in Korean? I am just saying, with the crazy translations floating around he could have just said that his bunions needed to rest from walking too much around Apple campus.
  • Reply 7 of 42
    addaboxaddabox Posts: 12,665member
    He actually said that patents are very smooth.
  • Reply 8 of 42
    tylerk36tylerk36 Posts: 1,037member
    Samsung decides that having Apple as a customer brings in money and makes samsung rich. What a concept. Samsung pay royalties for all devices that infringe on Apple design. Royalty percentage of every device sold now and in the future. Apple ends up with 100 billion dollars. Thats 100,000,000,000.00. Can you say that really fast 10 times.
  • Reply 9 of 42
    solipsismsolipsism Posts: 25,726member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by wizard69 View Post


    A quad core running at 1.5 GHz will make one excellent iPad.



    I was thinking more like a quad-core 1GHz Cortex-A8-based A6 for next year's iPad 3.
  • Reply 10 of 42
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by wizard69 View Post


    A

    A quad core running at 1.5 GHz will make one excellent iPad




    I would be very happy to see/own this! Even more so if there were apps built to utilize it!
  • Reply 11 of 42
    aizmovaizmov Posts: 989member
    I can't imagine Samsung Electronics having fabrication technology that can't be matched by Intel, Global Foundries or TSMC.
  • Reply 12 of 42
    iqatedoiqatedo Posts: 1,823member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by solipsism View Post


    I was thinking more like a quad-core 1GHz Cortex-A8-based A6 for next year's iPad 3.



    Now, if we can get a memory technology into the iPad/iPhone to replace both the RAM and Flash memory in affordable, tens of GB capacities, these systems would be unstoppable, unapproachable and even way cooler!



    All the best.
  • Reply 13 of 42
    Seems that Samsung has more to gain keeping Apple as a customer than selling their own iPhone knock-offs. Of course if they don't violate any of Apple's patents (or pay a license fee) they are welcome to market their own devices. Since most of the 'secret sauce' is really software, I think Apple has a better shot going after Google.
  • Reply 14 of 42
    iqatedoiqatedo Posts: 1,823member
    Next to Japan, which country in Asia is most trusted by the US as a long-term partner?



    Samsung is important to Apple, it would not surprise me at all for Tim to work hard at smoothing the relationship between the two companies. Further, I'll bet that it is in Tim's nature to do so.
  • Reply 15 of 42
    aizmovaizmov Posts: 989member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by IQatEdo View Post


    Next to Japan, which country in Asia is most trusted by the US as a long-term partner?



    Samsung is important to Apple, it would not surprise me at all for Tim to work hard at smoothing the relationship between the two companies. Further, I'll bet that it is in Tim's nature to do so.



    I would have cut off Samsung from the supply-chain. Samsung used its insider knowledge as an Apple supplier to copy Apple products.
  • Reply 16 of 42
    Hearing that Samsung supplies Sony is kind of weird. I guess it says something about Samsung.
  • Reply 17 of 42
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by IQatEdo View Post


    Next to Japan, which country in Asia is most trusted by the US as a long-term partner.



    Taiwan.
  • Reply 18 of 42
    iqatedoiqatedo Posts: 1,823member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Mac.World View Post


    Taiwan.



    Sure, Taiwan ia an ally, however, no one can be certain that it can remain a long-term partner. \
  • Reply 19 of 42
    ajitmdajitmd Posts: 365member
    Apple and Tim Cook got to know that the A series processors like the A5 are the single most important component for Apple, besides the Intel chips. They should know about the risk of using a single supplier like Samsung. Plus the geopolitical risks. After the earthquake in Japan, they should be aware of Black Swan supply disruptions.



    Apple has to use multiple suppliers with geographic diversification to reduce risk... even if costs more. Why not Intel? IBM? They are not going to double cross Apple.
  • Reply 20 of 42
    john f.john f. Posts: 111member
    What I don't get is that Apple makes custom chips, right? Not totally different, but still custom. But Samsung, a competitor, produces it. So certainly Samsung will rip off their custom designs? Better for Apple to produce their chips elsewhere.
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