While the speculation swirling around this year’s iPhones is still at a fever pitch, Samsung already has its sights set on the 2018 model, with The Korea Herald reporting the company has purchased specialized equipment to produce seven-nanometer processors for Apple. Samsung is the sole provider of the iPhone 8’s OLED display and was a major chip maker for Apple as well until TSMC adopted the seven-nanometer process before its rivals. Since then Samsung has caught up and begun purchasing the extreme ultra violet lithography machines necessary to build Apple’s processors again. Sources claim Kwon Oh-hyun, the Samsung CEO who oversees component production, clinched a deal to produce at least some of the processors again starting in 2018, but how much business the company ends up taking back from TSMC remains to be seen.
