(image credit: Kobiz Media/Korea Bizwire)
SEOUL, Sept. 8 (Korea Bizwire) — The consumer price of U.S. tech giant Apple Inc.’s new iPhone to be unveiled this month will depend on how much is paid to South Korean parts manufacturers, industry watchers said Friday.
The outlook came as many high-end features to be applied in the upcoming iPhone, including OLED panels, NAND flash memory chips and dual-camera modules, are provided by South Korean companies.
Industry watchers said the next generation iPhone, which is set to be revealed next week, will likely come with a price tag of US$999 for the base 32-gigabyte model.
The high price is attributable to the improved features of the new iPhone coupled with the industrywide price hike for chips and panels.
Sources said Samsung Electronics Co. and SK hynix Inc., which accounted for 35.7 percent and 11.4 percent of the first-quarter global NAND flash market, respectively, are responsible for supplying significant components to the iPhone.
Samsung Display Co. controls a whopping 97 percent of the OLED panels for smartphones, industry sources said. LG Innotek Co. is a major producer of dual-camera modules.
“Smartphone makers, such as Apple, Samsung and LG, have been taking steps to differentiate themselves through hardware specs, which led to a larger burden for production costs,” an industry insider said. “As South Korean firms lead in many areas of smartphone parts, they can exert influence on smartphone makers at home and abroad.”
(Yonhap)
