A regulatory filing from Samsung has revealed its top revenue sources for the year 2014; among which happens to be arch-rivals Apple. It underscores Cupertino’s importance to the South Korean giant, although the report also revealed the greater impact Xiaomi has had on Samsung’s operations.
According to the annual end-of-year filing for 2014 to South Korea’s Financial Supervisory Service, Apple, Deutsche Telekom, Ingram Micro, Sprint, and Verizon were the top five sources of income for Samsung. The five companies amounting to a collective 13 percent of its revenue. While the contributions from each of the companies was not revealed, Samsung did post a total revenue of 206 trillion (about RM1 trillion) won.
China Mobile and Best Buy, who were among the five top Samsung revenue streams in 2013 were noticeably absent last year. The reduction in revenue from China is speculated to be due to increased competition from Chinese manufacturers, who have eaten into Samsung’s earnings over the past year.
Samsung already supplies memory chips for Apple, as well as a portion of the A-series processors that power the iPhone. The South Korean manufacturer is set to continue to produce the A8, and the upcoming A9, processors for Apple; although it shares the task with Taiwanese rival TSMC.
ZDnet claims that sources have told it that Samsung is forming a task force to supply Apple with LCD and OLED displays as well, possibly making the Cupertino-based outfit even more reliant on its rival. That being said, with the amount of profits that Apple makes, it makes sense that anyone would want a piece of the pie.
[Source: ZDnet]
