Samsung Reportedly Upping Chip Prices For Apple Orders

In the ongoing war between Apple and Samsung, it is the former which is currently left to lick its wounds after the iPhone maker had to accept new, less favorable terms to a deal for Samsung’s chips.

It seems a day doesn’t go by without another story revolving around the sorry state of affairs that is Apple and Samsung’s relationship. Huge competitors, particularly in the smartphone arena, the pair have been at loggerheads in various court rooms around the globe for what seems like an eternity. Apple wins some, Samsung wins some, and the customer usually loses regardless. Great stuff.

93f54_20110422apple_samsung_scales

Not too long ago, Apple won a major victory when a US court ordered Samsung to hand over $1 billion, but due to claims of shenanigans on the jury, Samsung is currently in the process of trying to get the verdict overturned.

It seems Samsung is determined to win another battle with Apple, too, but this one is not being fought in the court room. Instead, this one is all about the deal which seems Samsung provide chips for Apple’s iPhone, iPad and just about every other massive seller coming out of Cupertino.

As strange as it may seem, Samsung provides hundreds of millions of chips to Apple each year. During a recent round of negotiations, it seems someone at Samsung got brave and, as a result, demanded that Apple hand over an extra 20% on top of the fees already paid. Apple balked at the new price and set about finding a new supplier. The problem is, it hasn’t found one.

68f388801c8111e28eb922000a1de2f1_7

According to reports, Apple has now agreed to pay the extra 20%, which is a huge win for Samsung and something of a bloody nose for Apple’s head honchos. Someone, somewhere is smarting.

As you might expect, nobody at Apple nor Samsung is willing to admit or deny the talks, or indeed the new agreement that has left Samsung with a little extra cash in its pocket. If Steve Jobs was around, we suspect he’d now be setting about destroying whoever it was that suggested the price hike, as well as anyone else stupid enough to have been in the room at the time!

We doubt Tim Cook holds a grudge quite so admirably.

(via MarketWatch)

You can follow us on Twitter, add us to your circle on Google+ or like our Facebook page to keep yourself updated on all the latest from Microsoft, Google, Apple and the web.