Samsung has become a victim of its own popularity. High global demand for the company's smartphones, especially the Samsung Galaxy S4, has depleted its stock of RAM, forcing it to purchase chips from rival SK Hynix.
There's a good chance the shortage is the reason supplies of the Galaxy S4 for its worldwide launch this week are low; many carriers have had to push back the release date several weeks, and some are unsure when they'll actually have the phone in stock.
Samsung is a paragon of vertical integration, making nearly all of the components for its smartphones in-house, where it can control price, production and supply. Rivals like HTC have recently felt the bite of component shortages when manufacturers wouldn't fill their orders - an outcome Samsung can usually avoid.
The company makes half of the world's DRAM chips, used in smartphones and tablet computers, but it's shipping 10 million Galaxy S4 devices this month, and production hasn't kept up with demand.
The purchase from SK Hynix could be good for consumers in the long run, since the rival company has been in poor financial straits. Many manufacturers have folded in the past few years after a price drop, so global supplies have been low. If Hynix and other producers can get back on their feet now that chip prices have stabilized, shortages could be less common in the future.
But for now, component supply problems seem likely, and it could be a while before there are enough Galaxy S4s to go around. Grab one while you can.
The Samsung Galaxy S4 features a 1.6GHz eight-core Exynos 5 Octa processor or a 1.9GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 processor (depending on country), 2GB of RAM, a 5-inch 1920x1080 Full HD AMOLED display at 441 ppi, a 13-megapixel rear-facing camera with 1080p HD video, a 2-megapixel front facing camera, internal storage between 16 and 64GB, an SD card slot that can accommodate an additional 64GB, a polycarbonate body, Smart Pause and floating touch tech and runs Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean.
Check back for the latest info on the Galaxy S4 as it becomes available.
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