Apple hires former Samsung vice president to tackle Korea

South Korea’s biggest phone manufacturer lost its vice president to its fiercest global rival at its home ground.

Apple has appointed a new leader for its business in South Korea, the home of its biggest rival, Samsung. And it’s none other than a top executive from that very company.

Former Samsung Corporate Vice President Brandon Yoon has left his post to join the iPhone maker at its South Korea office this month, his LinkedIn profile reveals. He was in charge of digital strategies at Samsung, his LinkedIn page says, while he’ll be acting as general manager at Apple. The move was first spotted by Bloomberg.

Yoon, also a Microsoft veteran with over a decade’s experience, has his work cut out for him at Apple South Korea, which only opened its first store in the country in January. The company is battling not only local competition iPhone sales — Apple devices make up about 17 percent market share, compared to Samsung, which accounts for over 50 percent — but also lawsuits and a probe concerning its admission to throttling older iPhone models to solve battery problems.

Samsung has declined to comment on Yoon’s move. Apple did not immediately respond to CNET’s request for comment.

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