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Samsung's component division will make more money off the iPhone X than the Galaxy S8

Samsung's component division will make more money off the iPhone X than the Galaxy S8

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iPhone X
Image: Apple

Samsung is set to make around $110 from each iPhone X that Apple sells, according to a new report from The Wall Street Journal.

To clarify, that’s Samsung as a corporate entity — specifically the conglomerate’s component manufacturing arm — not Samsung Electronics, which makes Galaxy smartphones and is generally the more familiar part of the company to most consumers. The Journal estimates that Samsung’s profits from the iPhone X are expected to be so large that the company’s revenues could earn up to $4 billion more than producing parts for the Galaxy S8.

Samsung is the only company that can make the OLED displays, NAND flash, and DRAM chip in the quantities that Apple needs for its iPhones, which are the main revenue driver for Apple. And as noted by The Wall Street Journal, those part orders are a huge chunk of Samsung’s component business, which accounts for around 35 percent of the company’s revenue.

It’s a good reminder of one of the more curious relationships in the technology business, where Apple and Samsung — major competitors when it comes to the smartphone business — are also incredibly reliant on each other, as explained in this Nerdwriter video.