Samsung Display to quit as Apple supplier in 2013

Samsung picked up the slack where others failed to a few years ago when it came to supplying displays for Cupertino’s range of portable devices, and even until today, they remain as the largest Apple screen supplier, shipping 15 million panels over to Apple in the first six months of 2012 alone. In the second half, however, the picture was not all that rosy, where Samsung shipped under the 3 million figure mark to Apple, and one can only postulate that the fourth quarter shipment is going to suffer even further – perhaps 1.5 million or less.

Having said that, word on the street has it that an unnamed (how convenient) Samsung Display executive was “caught” sharing word that Samsung Display will no longer supply displays to Apple from 2013 onwards, terminating the contract between both companies. The main reason cited was the changed relationship with suppliers that Apple has imposed, where the price per pixel from the iPad 2 to the new iPad has dropped by over 20 times for suppliers. That certainly does not bode well for the suppliers, and we are inclined to think that the lawsuit which Apple picked up a major victory in the US also had something to do with souring relations. What do you think?