Whenever Apple does well, Samsung does well. There is a reason for that: both are competitors on the iPhone – Galaxy series. But both are united by one critical thing: fabricating high-end microprocessors. Yes, Samsung Electronics fabs some of the most important Apple chips which help Apple convert customers to fans.
For Samsung, if Apple iPhone wins Galaxy, that is fine because what that means is that Apple will order more chips to be fabbed by Samsung. But having the Galaxy series ensures that Samsung does not have to secure external orders before innovating in the chip business. In other words, provided the chip business has an internal customer (the mobile device unit, the oasis in my strategy), Samsung will continue to commit resources as the oasis has removed most of the risks in investing billions of dollars to build new factories in the chip business.
Simply, the Galaxy series makes the chip business better by being a “reliable customer”, irrespective of whatever happens externally. That is the Double Play Strategy; I picked that phrase watching baseball. Yes, most times what drives the profits of great companies may not be what most people know them for. I explained this further in Harvard Business Review.
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