The best implementors, maybe, rather than copiers?
It seems to me that when you buy an Apple phone you are buying a Samsung-fabricated processor, probably Samsung flash memory on a majority of samples, a display which might possibly also be from Samsung, assorted cheaper parts some of which may also be from Samsung, casing, and some Foxconn assembly and testing. Of course an artistically inclined photographer may assume that Apple is buying the processor and memory, maybe even display, from its main competitor out of charity, an engineer might assume they are buying it from the people who know how to make such things.
Apple is now a fashion firm, like Nike. Samsung is still basically an electronics company.
We can debate this, but it is not the point of this thread.
This thread is about devices and their specs relative to customer current and future needs, it is not about components or core technology.
As far as components go and from what I know:
- the processor used in iDevices is an Apple design based on ARM IP and 70+% is manufactured by TSMC in Taiwan with Samsung manufacturing the remaining 30%,
- Samsung is one of 3 main screen providers for Apple, the other 2 being LG and sharp. From a technology standpoint, Sharp is clearly ahead these days but they seem to have a hard time with manufacturing yields,
- Memory is mostly Toshiba parts, although Samsung does provide as well.
- Foxconn and Pegatron are the 2 main OEMs working for Apple from a manufacturing standpoint, they appear to have very little say in pure product design, besides for the complex impacts of manufacturability of course.
Cheers,
Bernard