No matter how much bad blood Apple and Samsung may have between them when it comes to disputes over patents in courts all around the world, Samsung has continued producing the processors Apple uses in their iPhone/iPad, the most recent of which is the A6/A6x chipset used in the iPhone 5/iPad 4. However, word has come in that Samsung has hiked the price of the processors for Apple by 20%, which Apple has accepted, at least for now, as they had no choice.
Samsung had earlier invested around $4 billion in their Austin, Texas factory to renovate one of its chip production lines and increase fabrication capacity of the system chips used in smartphones and tablets, including providing chips to Apple faster than before, and this is rumored to be the reason for Samsung increasing the price, though nothing has been officially announced. Apple is also said to be looking to move away from its dependence on Samsung for processors in their devices in the future, so maybe Samsung is trying to rake in some extra cash before that happens.
While Apple custom designs each processor themselves, they leave the producing part to Samsung, and now it seems that Samsung has decided to not be so friendly with Apple. Although, Samsung has always said that they keep different parts of the business separated and don’t let the legal disputes mar the relationship their manufacturing business has with Apple, so it could turn out to be some other reason for this price hike.
