Apple: who supplies, buys from and competes with Apple
14 companies in 8 groups, centered on Apple. Each company below says what it does and why it matters here, and each relationship says what flows between two companies; dollar figures name the filing or release they come from. On the interactive map, prices and company figures refresh with the market.
The Fab · The Parts Bin · The Assembly Line · The Core · The Rivals · The Frenemies · The Rebels · The Checkout · Relationships
The Fab
Where Apple silicon is born
TSM — TSMC
Manufactures the chips Apple designs — and its Arizona fab is producing tens of millions of chips for Apple, which is that factory’s first and largest customer (Apple newsroom, 2025-08-06).
Why it matters: The single point of failure under the whole map: there is no second source for Apple silicon at the leading edge.
revenue $121B
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ARM — Arm Holdings
The instruction set every Apple chip speaks. Arm began in 1990 as a joint venture of Acorn Computers, Apple Computer, and VLSI Technology (Arm 20-F FY2026), and Apple designs its own cores under an architecture license rather than buying Arm’s — the royalty is small, the dependence is total.
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The Parts Bin
The chips and glass Apple can’t (yet) make itself
QCOM — Qualcomm
The modem supplier Apple is designing out: Apple was one of three customers each worth 10% or more of Qualcomm’s fiscal 2025 revenue, but has begun using its own modem and Qualcomm expects that to have a significant negative impact on its chip revenue (Qualcomm 10-K FY2025).
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AVGO — Broadcom
The RF and wireless connectivity chips inside Apple devices — Apple is working with Broadcom to develop and make more cellular components in the US (Apple newsroom, 2025-08-06) — the part of Broadcom that predates the AI boom and still ties it to Apple’s unit volumes.
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GLW — Corning
Makes cover glass for Apple: Apple’s US program funds a smartphone-glass line at Corning’s Harrodsburg, Kentucky plant, and says every iPhone and Apple Watch sold worldwide will use Kentucky-made cover glass — part of its $600B US commitment (Apple newsroom, 2025-08-06).
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The Assembly Line
Where the iPhones get built — and the tariff front line
HNHPF — Hon Hai (Foxconn)
The Taiwanese contract-manufacturing giant behind iPhones and AI servers: first-quarter 2026 revenue rose nearly 30% to about $66.6B on AI-server demand and new consumer devices including iPhones (TaiwanPlus, 2026-04-06). Trades in Taipei; the US ticker is a thin OTC listing.
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The Core
The hardware franchise everything else here orbits
AAPL — Apple
The center of the map: the iPhone brought in $209.6B of Apple’s $416.2B of fiscal 2025 sales, and Services — App Store, iCloud, Music, TV+, AppleCare, advertising, and search licensing — grew 14% to $109.2B at a 75% gross margin (Apple 10-K FY2025).
Why it matters: Everything else on this map is either inside the iPhone, competing with it, paying Apple for access to its users, or suing Apple over the toll it charges for that access.
Outlook: Revenue rose 16% to $109.4B in the June 2026 quarter as iPhone sales grew 22% (Apple 10-Q Q3 FY2026), and Apple introduced the all-new Siri AI at WWDC26 (Apple Q3 FY2026 release), built on Gemini-based models under a multi-year deal with Google (Apple–Google joint statement, 2026-01-12). The open question is whether the App Store commission survives the courts and the EU.
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The Rivals
Who’s fighting Apple for the pocket, the face, and China
SSNLF — Samsung Electronics
A hardware rival and a supplier at the same time: Galaxy fights iPhone for global unit share while Samsung’s Austin, Texas fab is launching a new chipmaking technology under Apple’s US program (Apple newsroom, 2025-08-06). Trades in Korea; the US ticker is a thin OTC listing.
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META — Meta
The rival for the next platform: Ray-Ban Meta glasses vs Vision Pro, Meta AI vs Apple Intelligence — and an old feud, since Meta lists mobile-OS policy changes by Apple among the things that limit its ability to target and measure ads (Meta 10-K 2025).
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HUAWEI — Huawei (private)
The China front: sanctions-era Huawei came back with its own chips and HarmonyOS, and Greater China is the one Apple region that shrank in fiscal 2025, down 4% to $64.4B (Apple 10-K FY2025). Employee-owned; no public valuation.
The Frenemies
The AI partners Apple pays, sells to, and competes with — all at once
GOOGL — Alphabet (Google)
Pays Apple roughly $20B a year to be Safari’s default search engine — the September 2025 remedies ruling let the payments continue but barred exclusive contracts (Bloomberg, 2025-09-02) — supplies the Gemini models behind Apple’s next foundation models (Apple–Google joint statement, 2026-01-12), and competes with Android and Pixel.
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OPENAI — OpenAI (private)
ChatGPT is wired into Siri and Writing Tools (Apple newsroom, 2024-12-11) — and OpenAI bought Jony Ive’s io in a $6.5B stock deal to build an AI device of its own (SiliconANGLE, 2025-05-21). Partner inside the phone, rival to the phone.
valuation $852B
The Rebels
The developers fighting the App Store toll
SPOT — Spotify
Competes with Apple Music and is the toll fight’s loudest voice: in March 2024 the European Commission fined Apple over €1.8B for abusive App Store rules for music-streaming providers (European Commission, 2024-03-04).
revenue $19B
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EPIC — Epic Games (private)
The Fortnite maker that sued Apple and won the part that mattered: on April 30, 2025 the court found Apple in violation of its 2021 injunction and barred it from charging any commission on purchases made outside an app (Apple 10-K FY2025).
The Checkout
Where the money ultimately comes from
The iPhone Owner
An installed base of active devices that hit a new all-time high in the June 2026 quarter (Apple Q3 FY2026 release), and an upgrade cycle that every carrier promotion, trade-in program, and foldable rumor exists to accelerate. They buy the hardware — and then keep paying for the services.
The Developers
The millions of apps that make the iPhone worth owning, and the App Store commission on the commerce flowing through them — the toll the Rebels column is fighting.
Relationships on the map
- TSMC supplies Apple — A- & M-series silicon
TSMC Arizona is producing tens of millions of chips for Apple, its first and largest customer there (Apple newsroom, 2025-08-06). - Arm Holdings supplies Apple — ISA license
Apple, a founding partner of Arm in 1990 (Arm 20-F FY2026), designs its own cores on Arm’s instruction set under an architecture license; the dollars are small, the lock-in is total. - Qualcomm supplies Apple — Modems (fading)
Apple was a 10%-plus customer in fiscal 2025, but Qualcomm expects Apple to keep replacing its modems with in-house ones (Qualcomm 10-K FY2025). - Broadcom supplies Apple — RF & wireless chips
Broadcom supplies RF and wireless silicon and is developing more US-made cellular components with Apple (Apple newsroom, 2025-08-06). - Corning supplies Apple — Kentucky cover glass
Apple says every iPhone and Apple Watch will use cover glass from Corning’s Harrodsburg, Kentucky plant (Apple newsroom, 2025-08-06). - Hon Hai (Foxconn) supplies Apple — iPhone assembly
Foxconn builds iPhones for Apple; new consumer devices including iPhones helped lift its first-quarter 2026 revenue (TaiwanPlus, 2026-04-06). - Samsung Electronics supplies Apple — Austin-made chips
Samsung’s Austin, Texas fab is part of Apple’s US chip program (Apple newsroom, 2025-08-06), so its biggest phone rival is also on Apple’s supplier list. - Apple competes with Samsung Electronics — Galaxy vs iPhone
Galaxy against iPhone for the premium smartphone buyer. - Apple competes with Meta — Glasses, AI & the privacy war
Ray-Ban Meta glasses vs Vision Pro for the next platform, Meta AI vs Apple Intelligence, and the ad-tracking feud over who owns the user (Meta 10-K 2025). - Apple competes with Huawei — The China front
Huawei’s comeback with its own silicon and HarmonyOS lands in Apple’s weakest region: Greater China sales fell 4% in fiscal 2025 (Apple 10-K FY2025). - Apple supplies Alphabet (Google) — Safari default search (~$20B/yr)
Google pays for default placement in Safari, an arrangement that generates roughly $20B a year for Apple and survived the September 2025 remedies ruling (Bloomberg, 2025-09-02). - Alphabet (Google) partners with Apple — Gemini inside Siri
Apple picked Google’s Gemini models and cloud technology as the base for its next generation of foundation models in a multi-year deal (Apple–Google joint statement, 2026-01-12). - Alphabet (Google) competes with Apple — Android & Pixel
Android runs on most of the world’s phones and Pixel is Google’s showcase for on-device AI — the other half of the mobile duopoly. - OpenAI partners with Apple — ChatGPT in Siri
Siri can hand certain requests to ChatGPT, and Writing Tools can use it to compose text and images (Apple newsroom, 2024-12-11). - OpenAI competes with Apple — The io device
OpenAI’s $6.5B stock purchase of Jony Ive’s io is an explicit bet on a post-smartphone AI device, led by the designer of the iPhone (SiliconANGLE, 2025-05-21). - Spotify competes with Apple — Apple Music & the App Store toll
A music rival in the middle of the App Store fight: Brussels fined Apple over €1.8B over its rules for music-streaming apps (European Commission, 2024-03-04). - Epic Games competes with Apple — The anti-steering ruling
The April 2025 ruling barred Apple from charging any commission on purchases made outside an app in the US — the first real crack in the App Store toll (Apple 10-K FY2025). - Apple supplies The iPhone Owner — iPhone, Mac, iPad, Wearables (~$307B/yr)
Products net sales of $307.0B in fiscal 2025, about three-quarters of Apple’s total, with the iPhone alone $209.6B (Apple 10-K, fiscal 2025). - Apple supplies The Developers — App Store distribution
App Store commissions are inside Services, the most profitable slice of Apple — and the one the courts and the EU are chipping at.