Apple to switch to advanced American-made iPhone camera sensors
Samsung Electronics will produce digital image sensors for Apple at its semiconductor facility in Austin, Texas in the latest sign that South Korean technology companies are starting to reap the benefits of a series of American investments and President Donald Trump’s tariff policies.
President Trump and Apple CEO Tim Cook unveiled details of the tech company’s $100 billion investment in American manufacturing on Wednesday, August 6, 2025.
Samsung Electronics will produce digital image sensors for Apple at its semiconductor facility in Austin, Texas in the latest sign that South Korean technology companies are starting to reap the benefits of a series of American investments and President Donald Trump’s tariff policies.
The iPhone maker on Wednesday said it would work with Samsung’s semiconductor facility in Austin, Texas, “to launch an innovative new technology for making chips, which has never been used before anywhere in the world”.
Although the companies did not specify the technology to be deployed, people familiar with the deal said the South Korean chipmaker would make a three-layer stacked image sensor — used in smartphone cameras to capture images — for Apple’s iPhone 18, expected to be released next year.
“By bringing this technology to the US first, this facility will supply chips that optimize power and performance of Apple products, including iPhone devices shipped all over the world,” Apple said in a statement.
The deal is part of a plan announced at the White House by chief executive Tim Cook to raise Apple’s US investments by $100bn. It was revealed on the same day Trump vowed to impose a 100 per cent tariff on chips to the US. However, he added that companies such as Apple that invested in the US could avoid the new levies.
Samsung and South Korean rival SK Hynix are investing billions of dollars in advanced manufacturing facilities in the US… Lee Jong-hwan, a professor of semiconductor engineering at Sangmyung University in Seoul, said: “Samsung seems to have won this deal from Apple because of the imminent tariffs on foreign chips.”
He noted the deal meant Sony, whose image sensors are produced under contract by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company in Kumamoto, Japan, would no longer be Apple’s sole supplier of the technology. “Apple will have preferred Samsung over Sony because Sony doesn’t have US plants,” said Lee. “Sony and other Japanese chipmakers will begin to suffer a setback once tariffs are imposed. Samsung’s strategy to expand US capacity is paying off.”
MacDailyNews Take: Congrats, Austin!
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