Almost a year prior to the iPhone 4S announcement, we ran a story about how Sony might be the supplier to offer a new 8 megapixel camera in Apple’s next generation iPhone. As the iPhone 4S became official and the specs were revealed, the story began to seem more and more true. However, Sony’s CEO, Sir Howard Stringer would eventually question why the company would want to supply its competitor with some of their best optics. Not to be outdone, Sony’s executive deputy president, Kaz Kirai, would eventually sit down with Walt Mossberg to discuss all things Sony where the topic of the image sensor would surface.

 Walt: Why did you sell your camera sensors to Apple?

Hirai: Can you really define who your competitors are, these days?

We sell to Apple. We buy from Samsung. We sell to Samsung. 

Though Kaz didn’t officially confirm the speculation, it seemed clear that the company was indeed supplying the iPhone 4S image sensor. Now, we have the final piece of this puzzle as Apple has come out and published a list of 156 suppliers (PDF) representing 97% of the company’s procurement expenditures. In that list, Sony Corporations is listed as one of those companies. Seeing how Sony doesn’t manufacture much, it seems fairly clear that the story has come full circle with a confirmation that Sony is indeed supplying Apple which has already shipped nearly 20 million handsets.

With the iPhone being on store shelves for only four months, this should prove to Sony that striking manufacturing deals like this is extremely important to the companies bottom line and that they can then take this easy earned cash (opposed to having a superior camera and then having to advertise that their camera is better then the iPhone which A. people don’t buy a phone just for a camera difference and B. It’s not like Sony actually advertises) and reinvest the money back into the company.

Discuss:

Is it wise for Sony to supply its so called “competitor” with parts?

[Via Apple Supplier List]