US smartphone company Apple has engaged the services of a former Samsung executive by name, Soonho Ann to serve as its fresh Global Head of Battery Developments. The fresh position further fuel theories of targets to develop and ultimately produce first-party battery areas.
The former Samsung chief commenced work at Apple in December last year as stated by to his LinkedIn profile. He is also reputed to have had a four-year stint Samsung’s battery arm, Samsung SDI. During his time at Samsung, Mr Ahn held three senior vice president roles. Together the line, he worked on next-generation battery cell materials and technology bound for a range of customer products including smartphones, power tools and electric vehicles. Before his stint at Samsung, Ahn worked at LG Chem for 17 years as a vice president in charge of battery development, whenever which he served a brief stint as a professor of energy and chemical engineering at the Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology.
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Samsung happens to be one of Apple’s important components supplier no matter their rivalry. The Korean company is listed as a top-200 supplier on Apple’s Supplier List as of February 2018. However, Apple has been trying to diversify more than the past few several years and that has brought multiple Chinese battery makers into the fold. This fresh hire offer Apple is looking to reduce its dependence on third-party suppliers and could start developing its own batteries early. Already, there are rumours that the Cupertino-based company is working on an in-house battery solution, Last year, Apple was announced to be in talks to secure cobalt, a major ingredient in lithium-ion batteries, directly from miners. One primary area in which Apple has found success in developing its sections is the A-series processors that fuel the iPhone, iPad and HomePod.