Samsung acquires Tel Aviv-based smartphone camera maker Corephotonics, which sued Apple for patent infringement of its dual aperture tech in 2017, for $155M
Calcalist first reported that Samsung was considering the acquisition earlier this month. The companies signed the deal Sunday
Context & Ripple Effects
Samsung is converting an investor position into ownership: it led Corephotonics' $15M round alongside Foxconn and Mediatek in early 2017, and has now paid $155M — roughly three times the startup's total raised — for the Tel Aviv dual-camera specialist outright. The deal lands on top of an unresolved legal fight: in November 2017 Corephotonics sued Apple, claiming the iPhone 7 Plus and 8 Plus used its dual-aperture technology with contempt for its patents.
The acquisition also extends a familiar arc of Israeli imaging startups disappearing into device makers — Apple bought camera-tech firm LinX for about $20M in 2015 and later quietly absorbed Camerai — but this time the buyer is Apple's largest Android rival, acquiring both the technology and the litigant.
First-order effects
- Samsung brings dual-camera and dual-aperture optics IP fully in-house, ending its dependence on licensing a supplier it can now dictate terms to, while Corephotonics' backers exit at a premium to the company's $50M lifetime raise.
- Corephotonics' infringement suit against Apple now belongs to a direct smartphone competitor, changing who controls the litigation strategy and any settlement.
Second-order effects
- Apple faces a rival holding the very patents it was accused of infringing, strengthening the other side's leverage in settlement talks or licensing negotiations over the iPhone 7 Plus and 8 Plus camera features.
- Other handset makers relying on third-party camera-module innovation face a shrinking pool of independent Israeli optics specialists, pushing them toward their own acquisitions or deeper ties with remaining suppliers like module vendors and chipset partners such as MediaTek, an earlier Corephotonics backer.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds — LinX, RealFace, Camerai to Apple, Corephotonics to Samsung — independent smartphone-imaging startups become acquisition targets rather than durable suppliers, concentrating camera differentiation among vertically integrated device giants and raising the bar for new entrants to stay standalone.
- Patent enforcement in mobile imaging increasingly becomes a weapon wielded by integrated manufacturers against each other rather than by specialists seeking royalties, reshaping how camera IP disputes get priced and settled.
The trend: Smartphone camera competition is consolidating Israeli imaging specialists into vertically integrated device makers, turning once-independent optics IP into ammunition between Apple and Samsung.