Samsung's Exynos-branded quad-core processors have been deployed by two Chinese smartphone makers, Meizu and LePhone-maker Lenovo.

Samsung Electronics is aiming to increase chip supply to more Chinese and other emerging smartphone manufacturers to meet the demand, once Apple stops placing orders with it.

Samsung is the major supplier of mobile processors, or application processors (AP), for devices manufactured by Apple and its own range of Galaxy phones and tablets.

Both firms, which collectively account for more than half the global smartphone market, have been engaged in a string of controversial court disputes, and the iPhone maker seeks to reduce its reliance on its rival for parts for its gadgets.

Both firms, which collectively account for more than half the global smartphone market, have been engaged in a string of controversial court disputes, and the iPhone maker seeks to reduce its reliance on its rival for parts for its gadgets.

Samsung's System LSI business president Stephen Woo told Reuters that as there are just two smartphone makers that are doing really well, chipmakers supplying to them have grown proportionately.

"So we plan to bolster our relationship with those key customers," Woo said. "(We) should diversify our customer base and are making such efforts already, adding some Chinese customers."

Samsung has also released a new Exynos 5 Octa eight-core mobile processor, featuring four Cortex-A15 cores and four Cortex-A7 cores.

The new processor is said to have twice the 3D performance of any previous mobile processor, including that of the South Korean firm's earlier Exynos 4 Quad.