Apple has moved some of the memory-chip orders for its forthcoming iPhone from Samsung to other Asian chipmakers, according to The Wall Street Journal. The suggestion is that the US company is reducing its usage of Samsung as it fights an ongoing patent dispute with its handset rival.

Apple has been switching some memory chip orders to Korea’s SK Hynix according to the report, which quoted people “familiar with the situation”. However Samsung will still supply the main processor powering the new iPhone. The area where SK Hynix has gained orders in recent months is mobile DRAM and NAND flash memory chips.

In addition to processors, Samsung also supplies Apple with displays for the iPad. But the display in the new iPhone will reportedly come from a combination of Sharp, LG and Japan Display, and not Samsung. However, in this case, it is because the latter uses a different manufacturing process than that used for the iPhone.

As well as the ongoing litigation, Apple is also likely to have diversified its chip supply chain to guard against any shortage –  given the anticipated high level of demand for the new iPhone – but this process might have been accelerated because of the legal dispute between the two companies.