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The iPhone X may be one of the most talked about smartphones in the market to date, but few know that Samsung may financially benefit more from the popularity of Apple’s latest device.
According to a report on the Wall Street Journal, Samsung Electronics. Co., Ltd. currently stands as the only company capable of producing a huge amount organic light emitting diode (OLED) screens. These will then go with every iPhone X produced by factories.
Each OLED screen will cost $110 to make or around P5,600. Multiply this amount with the global demand for the iPhone X and it’s easy to imagine how much money Samsung will make.
In essence, Samsung as a company will continue to earn profits even if the iPhone X overtakes their own Galaxy S8 in sales.
Furthermore, a previous report stated Samsung may also manufacture mobile processors for iPhones in 2018.
Samsung has the potential to earn $4 billion (about P204 billion) in revenue from making iPhone X parts in the 20 months following Nov. 3 when the device hits the market.
The Korean firm’s component business amounted to 35 percent of their total revenue in 2016. This equals to $195 billion or somewhere along P9.8 trillion.
Apple is not completely comfortable with the current status quo so the company made moves to break Samsung’s monopoly on OLED mass production. They encouraged companies like Sharp Corp. and Japan Display Inc. to build up their capacity to make OLED screens.
Given Apple and Samsung’s rivalry in the smartphone market, their business relationship represents one of the most curious developments within the tech industry. Alfred Bayle/JB
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