Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

CTOnews.com, March 6 (Xinhua)-- Apple and Samsung are one of the most unhappy partners in the technology world, but their "marriage" continues because of Apple's demand for advanced screens, according to The Information.

Although Apple has long relied on the South Korean electronics giant to provide key components for the iPhone, it has also launched a long court battle against Samsung, accusing it of embezzling Apple patents in its smartphone line. The two companies settled their legal dispute five years ago when Apple found other partners to supply components in its devices, such as memory chips, or to replace Samsung's other components, such as processors, with its own designs.

A complete breakup is impossible, however, because Apple still needs Samsung to provide an important component: displays for iPhone and other devices. This also makes the relationship between the two companies very tense and delicate.

Samsung is so distrustful of Apple that Apple engineers are banned from entering Samsung factories, according to several former Apple employees. In one incident in 2017, Apple engineers flew from the United States to South Korea to meet with employees of Samsung's display division but were told they were not welcome to enter its facilities, including its office buildings, because Samsung had to protect its intellectual property around a screen technology known as organic light-emitting diodes (OLED). Apple engineers were forced to have remote conversations with their Samsung counterparts in hotel rooms in South Korea, according to a former Apple employee familiar with the matter.

Over the past few years, Apple has been trying to wean itself off Samsung's OLED screen and look for other suppliers such as LG, Japanese display (JDI) and BOE, but none of these manufacturers have been able to meet Apple's requirements for quality, quantity and price.

OLED screen is one of the most advanced display technologies, which can provide higher contrast, lower power consumption and thinner thickness. Apple has been using OLED screens on the Apple Watch since 2016, and has gradually expanded to other product lines, such as iPhone, iPad Pro and MacBook Pro.

However, Samsung is the world's largest maker of OLED screens, with a market share of about 80 per cent. This means that Apple must pay high purchase fees to Samsung and it is difficult to negotiate with it. According to reports, Apple pays Samsung about $10 billion a year (CTOnews.com Note: currently about 69.1 billion yuan) for OLED screens.

In order to reduce costs and increase bargaining power, Apple has been looking for other reliable OLED screen suppliers. However, in the past few years, the plan has not made much progress. Although LG has begun to provide OLED screens for some iPhone models, its production capacity and quality are still not as good as Samsung's. JDI is unable to put into mass production because of financial difficulties. Although BOE is one of the largest display manufacturers in China, its products have also failed Apple's strict testing standards.

Samsung's advantages in screen technology and production give it more power in its relationship with Apple, which most of its supply chain partners do not have. Generally speaking, Apple suppliers must bear the "financial risk of the cost of storing and absorbing unwanted components", but this is not the case in their relationship with Samsung.

Samsung forced Apple to buy hundreds of thousands of extra screens a few years ago, even though Apple cut its demand forecast for MacBook displays, according to a former Apple employee.

In another incident, Samsung shipped "millions of LCD monitors to Foxconn" for the first retina screen version of the iPad mini, but Apple found "minor flaws" on those monitors. Samsung refused to change the screen, leaving Apple "no choice but to use these panels". A few years later, a similar incident occurred on MacBook displays, forcing Apple to suspend mass production until the company picked out the best quality display to use.

Over the years, Apple has tried many times to get rid of Samsung, but failed. One of the attempts occurred when Apple wanted to use microLED display technology instead of OLED in iPhone X. Initially, Apple wanted to use MicroLED instead of OLED on iPhone X. While the OLED has better control over the overall image than the LCD, some executives inside Apple don't like OLED displays because they are hard to see in the sun, according to a former Apple executive involved in discussing Apple's display roadmap.

After acquiring LuxVue in 2014, Apple equipped its MicroLED program with top talent, many of whom have doctorates in fields such as physics, chemistry and electrical engineering. A year later, Apple bought a small display factory in Taiwan from Qualcomm to learn how to make displays.

The plan to use MicroLED on iPhone X never materialized. Several people who have been involved in the project say the high cost of making the MicroLED, coupled with how long the manufacturing process takes and the high likelihood of defects, have caused delays, although Apple has been trying to overcome these obstacles for years.

Still, Apple has not given up looking for alternatives. According to reports, Apple plans to use BOE's OLED screen when it launches its fourth-generation iPhone SE in 2023. In addition, Apple continues to work on MicroLED technology, which can provide displays with higher efficiency, longer life and better visual effects.

However, Apple will still need to rely on Samsung to meet its demand for high-end OLED screens for the foreseeable future. There is both competition and cooperation between the two companies, forming a unique and complex relationship in the field of science and technology.

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