The iPhone 5 tear down divulges lots of goodies: Triquint (TQNT) amp, STMicro (STM) accelerometer, Elpida DRAM, Hynix flash NAND, Qualcomm (QCOM) RF power chips, Skyworks (SWKS) amplifier module, Broadcom (BRCM) touch screen controller and Murata 339S0171 Wi-Fi module to name a few. Apple (AAPL) has blessed these vendors with an iPhone windfall.
Missing in action - Samsung (OTCPK:SSNLF).
No Samsung components. Wow!
That Samsung battery present in the 4S. Gone. Looks like Sony got that! No more Samsung DRAM or Flash! Their high-resolution screen? That too has been replaced by Sharp, LG, and Japan Display.
Estimates were going as high as $11 billion of Samsung in Apple's line-up for 2012. Considering that Apple's COGS is $83 billion for trailing 12 months, Samsung was raking it in from its chief competitor. This marks a sea change.
Tim Cook definitely has taken this nuclear war to Samsung. First in the courtroom. And now in its choice of supplier.
In one fell swoop, Apple removed essentially all Samsung components from the 5.
Still, this is only one phone that's been taken apart. Perhaps, Samsung will show up in another iPhone 5. Apple does use multiple vendors for some of its components. We'll see if Samsung has been left out in the next tear down.
The only vestige of Samsung remaining: Fab for Apple's A6 chip. IHS estimates the per-ship cost of the A6 to be $17.50. At that price, Samsung will be seeing a ton of money coming their way. Just nowhere near $11 billion. From our first look within the iPhone 5, Samsung lost a lot of real estate. We're getting closer to a Samsung-free product. Good going, Apple.
Just one last step. My little suggestion: Move those A6s over to Intel (INTC). A long shot for sure but wars can create wild opportunities. Stranger things have happened.
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