Samsung vs. Apple - What Broke Down The Great Wall of Foxconn?

As Apple takes Samsung to court for $2.5 billion in damages, we look at how this symbiotic relationship has broken down, on the most expensive scale'.

'With all the turbulence surrounding the patent war between Samsung and Apple, it's hard to remember that there are many different levels to one of the most complex relationships in technology. Funnily enough, the Macbook Pro I'm typing this on is using a Samsung HDD and screen. But as time has gone on, the question has to be asked, 'What's gone wrong?', and why has such a hugely profitable affair soured. The easiest way to understand the dispute between Apple and Samsung is to apply a male and female relationship to it, a symbiotic, loving trust between two bodies. Imagine your wife has always made dinner for you, but you always suggested the meals. Now imagine that partnership lasting for a few years, but your wife decides that she's going to take your meals and enhance them with her own unique touch, and recipe. Suddenly, husband's favourite Lasagne, has become Lasagne with Cheese, property of wife, and no longer husband. Apple don't view this in such a nice, reasonable way, which is why the tech giant, rumoured to become the world's first trillion dollar company is suing it's best bud for a whopping $2.5 billion or a still sizable £1.6 billion. I don't know about you, but that'd leave me shorthanded for a fair amount of time. Arguably the most common misconception of Apple is that by having entirely integrated systems, they make the hardware. In fact, this couldn't be further from the case. Any of you that own an iPhone are actually proud owners of a Sharpe screen, Samsung RAM and DRAM, and various other components made by numerous other suppliers. At it's heart, the only thing truly Apple about the device is iOS, as even the processor developed by ARM (now owned by Apple), isn't a true Apple product. It's never going to come to a point where the two giants decide to part ways, due to the sheer amount of money both sides stand to lose if they walk away. The components manufactured by Samsung now sit at the heart of Apple (quite literally), and removing these would either result in lower quality products, or a higher production cost with another group. All in all, Apple is just mad that their eternal girlfriend has started her own business (Smart phone wise), and they feel like they're at a loss because of it. Whether anything truly industry changing comes as a result of the trials is yet to be seen. Personally, my money is on 'no', it's just a money game.
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Tom is a British writer residing in the south of England. A dystopian Sci-Fi fan, his interests range from movies and gaming, all the way through to the new journalism of Hunter S. Thompson, and everything crazy in-between.