Samsung and Apple are fierce rivals in the smartphone market, often even mocking each other in advertising campaigns. However, despite this intense competition, Samsung remains a crucial link in the iPhone supply chain, providing many key components such as screens and memory. According to sources from South Korea, amidst a severe memory shortage, Apple is planning to significantly increase its memory purchases from Samsung.
According to a report by The Korea Economic Daily , Apple currently sources iPhone memory from three main suppliers: Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron. Previously, between 2012 and 2018, SK Hynix was Apple's largest memory supplier. However, in recent years, Samsung has gradually consolidated its position and risen strongly in Apple's supply chain. Industry sources estimate that Samsung will supply approximately 60–70% of the power-efficient DRAM used in the upcoming iPhone 17 series.
This shift is no coincidence. As AI data centers boom globally, SK Hynix and Micron are increasingly shifting their production capacity to high-bandwidth memory (HBM) to serve AI customers, causing shortages in the conventional commercial memory market. Meanwhile, Samsung continues to maintain very large-scale production of general-purpose DRAM, thus becoming a more stable and reliable option for Apple, not only for the iPhone 17 but also for the future iPhone 18 generation.
Korean sources also indicate that Samsung's 12GB LPDDR5X module is currently the thinnest in its segment, with a thickness of only 0.65 mm. Furthermore, this generation of memory boasts significantly improved heat dissipation and energy efficiency, increasing by 21.2% and 25% respectively compared to the previous generation. Industry experts believe Samsung is currently the only manufacturer capable of fully meeting Apple's stringent quality standards. With many other companies prioritizing AI production capabilities, Apple is likely to become even more reliant on Samsung's memory in the coming years.
Of course, the widespread shortage of commercial memory also benefits manufacturers significantly, as profit margins skyrocket. For example, at the beginning of 2025, a 12GB LPDDR5X module from Samsung cost only about $30, but now it sells for around $70.