Samsung occupies an interesting place in the smartphone market — it's one of the biggest smartphone vendors in the world, and it also manufactures key components, including displays and processors. There have been indications that Apple wants to move away from relying on Samsung for components for future iOS devices, and now an HTC executive is speaking out about how Samsung uses its power in the component business to gain leverage over the competition. Way back in 2010, HTC's Nexus One and Desire smartphones used Samsung's AMOLED displays — but a report from Focus Taiwan says that Samsung "strategically declined" to offer up its display tech to HTC for follow-up smartphones.

"We found that key component supply can be used as a competitive weapon," said Jack Tong, president of HTC North Asia. Of course, HTC's devices in recent years have been widely praised for having excellent, non-Samsung displays — but the company has also suffered through a number of component shortages, While the HTC One X and its successor the HTC One both have best-in-class displays when they were released, the company has had a hard time keeping up with Samsung's hugely successful Galaxy lineup — though that's probably due as much to Samsung's superior marketing budget as it is to the occasional supply issues HTC has dealt with.