Apple plans to launch a smaller version of its popular iPad tablet later this year according to an unnamed official at Samsung. While speaking with The Korea Times, the anonymous Samsung official said that Apple will likely spend a record $11 billion on Samsung-sourced parts for its various devices in 2012. “The amount of the current contract is around $9.7 billion,” The Korea Times was told. The site’s source continued, “The contract is expected to rise to $11 billion by the end of this year as Apple is planning to release a smaller iPad, probably with a 7.85-inch screen, and to sell more of its MacBook Air PCs using Samsung’s faster solid state drive (SSD) storage.” Apple’s 7.85-inch iPad has been rumored on a number of occasions, and Samsung Securities mentioned the unconfirmed tablet recently in a confidential report. Samsung currently supplies a variety of parts for Apple’s PCs and mobile devices, and the company is reportedly the sole supplier of Retina Displays for Apple’s new iPad, which goes on sale Friday, March 16th.
Samsung again tips ‘iPad mini,’ says Apple will buy $11B in Samsung parts this year
Updated Dec 19th, 2018 7:50PM EST
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Zach Epstein has been the Executive Editor at BGR for more than 10 years. He manages BGR’s editorial team and ensures that best practices are adhered to. He also oversees the Ecommerce team and directs the daily flow of all content. Zach first joined BGR in 2007 as a Staff Writer covering business, technology, and entertainment.
His work has been quoted by countless top news organizations, and he was recently named one of the world's top 10 “power mobile influencers” by Forbes. Prior to BGR, Zach worked as an executive in marketing and business development with two private telcos.
