Samsung Said to Create Team to Make Displays for Apple Devices

Samsung Electronics Co has created a standalone team of about 200 employees to work exclusively on making screens for rival smartphone maker Apple Inc's products, Bloomberg reported, citing people with direct knowledge of the matter.

The team at Samsung Display Co, which provides screens for iPads and MacBooks, helps develop products and is only allowed to share information about Apple's business within the group, Bloomberg said.

The team, formed on April 1, also helps with sales and Apple is now the biggest external customer for Samsung components, Bloomberg said.

A Samsung Display spokesman declined to comment on the report. Representatives at Apple could not immediately be reached for comment outside regular U.S. business hours.

Samsung and Apple last year agreed to drop all patent litigation outside the US, scaling down a protracted legal battle between the smartphone rivals.

The legal battle between the smartphone rivals began in the United States in 2011 when Apple accused Samsung of copying its iPhone designs. Samsung countered that Apple was using pieces of its wireless-transmission technology without permission.

© Thomson Reuters 2015