Samsung was until this year the largest supplier of screens for Apple iDevices, but everything is about to change, the Cupertino company trying to give up to the services of the Koreans. Although Apple Lossless Audio CODEC (ALAC), asked for quotes from some partners for the production of iDevice screens that would reach the market in 2013, Samsung Display was overlooked. The Koreans expect that in 2013 Apple will give up their services for the manufacture of screens for iDevices and the losses are hundreds of millions or even billions of dollars.
Apple is unlikely to further use displays made by Samsung Display throughout 2013, as the company has yet to send a request for quotation (RFQ) to Samsung, according to a Korea-based media report. The report speculated that because Samsung has yet to receive Apple's RFQ, it will no longer be considered for providing panels to Apple in 2013, most notably for iPad and iPad mini products. Instead, LG Display, Sharp, Japan Display and AU Optronics (AUO) are expected to land most of Apple's iPad and iPad mini panel orders.
Replacing Samsung, Apple now relies on LG Display, Sharp, Japan Display and Au Optronics, all of these companies already receiving a request from Apple for quotes on screen prices. Apple was forced to give up Samsung due to intellectual property disputes and soon Samsung will lose the nearly 9 billion dollars that Apple paid annually for components manufactured by Koreans. The number is high, but a company like Samsung can bear such a loss, at least in the short term.
