Probably many of you already know that some of the components of the iDevices are delivered by Samsung and in the image above we have a division of the components provided by each individual supplier. From Samsung, Apple takes 26% of the total components for the iPhone 4, more precisely, it takes the processor, the RAM, and the flash memory on which we store all our data. Practically, Samsung delivers to Apple all the important components without which an iPhone 4 terminal could not function in any form. The Economist made this image to highlight how much Apple depends on the production of the iPhone 4 terminal.
The "teardown" graphic below, based on data from iSuppli, a market-research firm, shows who makes what inside the iPhone, and how much the various bits cost. Samsung turns out to be a particularly important supplier. It provides some of the phone's most important components: the flash memory that holds the phone's apps, music and operating software; the working memory, or DRAM; and the applications processor that makes the whole thing work. Together these account for 26% of the component cost of an iPhone.
If the relations between Apple and Samsung "cold" long enough and the Asian company decided not to honor the contracts, then Apple would have quite big problems in finding other suppliers of components for the iPhone 4. Of course, this is unlikely to happen, but now we look at the relationship between the 2 companies from another perspective. Even in the situation where Apple depends on Samsung, the company from Cupertino had the courage to sue its partner and even block its product sales in Europe, so it is possible that in the future there will be a break in terms of cooperation for the production of iDevices.
Basically, Samsung could "hit" Apple quite seriously if it wanted to, but if it did so, it would more than likely have to pay considerable damages.
