HTC begins reducing dependence on Samsung for smartphone parts like Apple

HTC has switched orders for key components in its smartphones away from Samsung, in a move that echoes Apple's efforts to reduce reliance on a major competitor.

HTC has placed orders for CMOS image sensors with OmniVision and Sony, while part of its supply of AMOLED panels now comes from AU Optronics, DigiTimes reported on Tuesday. Those parts were said to have previously been supplied by Samsung.

Both Apple and HTC have apparently shown interest in moving away from Samsung, as Samsung is one of the world's largest smartphone builders in addition to a key supplier of important electronics components.

HTC is said to be concerned about yield rates and production volume of AMOLED displays from AU Optronics. As a result, HTC still purchases a portion of its displays from Samsung to ensure it will be able to stay at production capacity.

Last month, it was said that Samsung was dropped as a NAND flash memory supplier for Apple's first batch of iPhone 5 units. Evidence to support that was found by iFixit, which discovered in itsiPhone 5 teardown that the system-on-a-chip in their unit featured memory from Elpida.

Apple remains one of Samsung's largest and most important customers, and the South Korean electronics maker indicated in August that it intends to apply a "strict internal firewall" to protect its parts deals with Apple. Samsung's handset business and components operations are run separately in hopes of quieting concerns that conflicts of interest could arise.

Samsung continues to build the custom processors that power Apple's devices at its chip plant in Austin, Tex. That includes the new A6 chip that powers the iPhone 5.