The love-hate relationship between Samsung and Apple will benefit both

Apple and Samsung are undeniably the champions of the smartphone race, which is also one of the most profitable and aggressively growing industry in the world.  The companies have had a difficult past but it seems like both are praying for each other's success this year.

Samsung and Apple have been in a business relationship since the year 2008 and since then Apple has been one of Samsung's biggest clients. So much so that the company employees have created a code word 'LO' for Apple,  which translates to Lovely Opponent. According to a report by The Wall Street Journal, Apple's new iPhone X took this business relationship to a whole new level.

The OLED screen that is undoubtedly the most eye-catching feature of the iPhone X is sourced from Samsung. The device was created to satisfy the demand of a spectacle from Apple, something that was not done before. iPhone X reflected what Apple was willing to go through to produce this spectacle.

According to the WSJ report which cited a study by Counterpoint Technology, Samsung is to gain $110 from every iPhone X unit sold which is nearly half of what it will get by selling components used in a single unit of the Galaxy S8, which is $202. However, in the next 20 months the iPhone X is estimated to sell 130 million units in contrast to Galaxy S8's 50 million. This translates to $4 billion more than what it will earn from Galaxy S8.

Apple doesn't seem to be happy about this dependence on Samsung. The American tech giant doesn't have any other option as Samsung is the only substantial producer of OLED panels in the world. Earlier reports suggest that Apple will be looking for more manufactures like LG to build OLED panels for the next generation of iPhones. The process of building OLED displays require unique assembly lines to go through the fabrication of the display. 

While this might look like a bad deal for Apple, Samsung cannot afford to lose Apple as a client of their component business. Apple contributed around 35 per cent of the firm's entire business last year which amounts to $195 billion.

For now, both companies might make their rivalry apparent with targeted adverts and patent infringement cases but neither can deny their dependence on each other. Samsung and Apple launched their flagship devices a month apart but the iPhone X and Note 8 have redefined the premium segment with never seen before prices.