Samsung Denies Terminating LCD Panel Supply Contract with Apple
Despite earlier rumors of Samsung Electronics Co. (005930:KS) having ceased its partnership with Apple, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) as one of the latter company’s LCD panel suppliers, it looks like the South Korean giant is still doing display panel business with Apple after all.
An unnamed Samsung spokesperson told CNET on Tuesday that the aforementioned report from the Korea Times was incorrect, and that Samsung “has never tried to cut the supply for LCD panels to Apple.”
Many consumer electronics watchers’ interests were piqued not too long ago when the Korea Times released that report. The publication cited an anonymous Samsung official, who said that Samsung will stop supplying LCD display panels to Apple at the end of the year, as the Cupertino, CA company is “no longer a cash generator due to (Apple’s) stiffer supply chain management structure.”
This, according to CNET’s source, is in no uncertain terms a false statement. The source added that Samsung requested the Korea Times to make the necessary corrections to the report.
While Apple and Samsung are apparently still epitomizing the “strange bedfellows” business adage due to their ongoing patent war, the former company was busy on Tuesday as it unveiled several new products in San Jose, California. The most notable of these products was the 7.9-inch iPad mini tablet computer, which is projected to make a big impact in the midsize device market, and probably cannibalize up to 20 percent of full-size iPad sales, according to one analyst.


