Teardown finds Samsung Galaxy S4 more costly to build than Apple's iPhone 5
An analysis of parts found inside Samsung's new Galaxy S4 has concluded the flagship smartphone is more costly to build than Apple's iPhone 5, with a price tag of $237 for the 16-gigabyte model.
The analysis conducted by IHS iSuppli found a great deal of difference between the U.S. and Korean versions of the Galaxy S4. Their estimates found that the AT&T version is cheaper, at $237, than the $252 model built for Korea, when the cost of parts and manufacturing are combined.
The biggest difference in cost comes from the processor: The AT&T model features a Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 quad-core CPU that is estimated at $20, while the Korean model has a $28 Samsung Exynos 5 Octa.
The costs compare to an estimated total bill of $207 for parts and manufacturing of Apple's 16-gigabyte iPhone 5. The two competing handsets are priced comparably with carrier contract subsidies, suggesting that Apple makes greater profit margins on the iPhone 5 than Samsung does with the Galaxy S4.
Of course, these estimated values do not include the money invested in research and development of both hardware and software. The teardowns represent only the component prices and costs to assemble the devices.
The most expensive part of the Galaxy S4 is the 5-inch touchscreen display, which is estimated to have a $75 price tag. The Super AMOLED screen features a 441-pixel-per-inch density and is protected by Corning's Gorilla Glass 3.
Other part estimates include the 13-megapixel rear and 2-megapixel front cameras ($18), 16 gigabytes of storage ($28), power management components ($9), and various sensors ($18).
The total bill of materials cost for the U.S. AT&T version is $229, while the Korean version costs $244. Both have an estimated manufacturing cost of $8.50, which brings them to their respective final costs.
The analysis conducted by IHS iSuppli found a great deal of difference between the U.S. and Korean versions of the Galaxy S4. Their estimates found that the AT&T version is cheaper, at $237, than the $252 model built for Korea, when the cost of parts and manufacturing are combined.
The biggest difference in cost comes from the processor: The AT&T model features a Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 quad-core CPU that is estimated at $20, while the Korean model has a $28 Samsung Exynos 5 Octa.
The costs compare to an estimated total bill of $207 for parts and manufacturing of Apple's 16-gigabyte iPhone 5. The two competing handsets are priced comparably with carrier contract subsidies, suggesting that Apple makes greater profit margins on the iPhone 5 than Samsung does with the Galaxy S4.
Of course, these estimated values do not include the money invested in research and development of both hardware and software. The teardowns represent only the component prices and costs to assemble the devices.
The most expensive part of the Galaxy S4 is the 5-inch touchscreen display, which is estimated to have a $75 price tag. The Super AMOLED screen features a 441-pixel-per-inch density and is protected by Corning's Gorilla Glass 3.
Other part estimates include the 13-megapixel rear and 2-megapixel front cameras ($18), 16 gigabytes of storage ($28), power management components ($9), and various sensors ($18).
The total bill of materials cost for the U.S. AT&T version is $229, while the Korean version costs $244. Both have an estimated manufacturing cost of $8.50, which brings them to their respective final costs.
Comments
Interesting. I wonder how accurate the pricing for parts is, especially considering how Apple has such a terrific supply chain, where they can pretty much dictate what they're willing to pay...
2) Even if we believe iSuppli has a [I]decent[/I] idea of Apple and Samsung's BoMs there would be enough margin for error to show that they'll all pretty much the same.
3) The only think I think we can say for certain by looking at this figures is that the Korean S4 costs a little more than the US AT&T S4.
Because we all know how little Samsung spends on R&D. They've already saved billions copying the original iPhone design...
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dave MacLachlan
Interesting. I wonder how accurate the pricing for parts is, especially considering how Apple has such a terrific supply chain, where they can pretty much dictate what they're willing to pay...
Let me put this way, iSupply pricing is completely wrong, it is a guess at best and I am not even sure how they come up with their pricing. In some cases I know the market pricing of parts and their pricing has never been right on they are either high or low and I am not talking about a small amount, ti seen their spreads very as much as 20%.
They my come close in the total price is some guesses are low and other are high so it averages out. Also with Samsung, they are assume they pay market pricing for part they buy from other Samsung business, that may not always be true.
Since only 4 cores are ever working at once I'd think that would depend on which on which of the 4 of 8 cores are engaged.
I believe the cost difference is mostly attributable to the authentic plastic shell of the S4.
Plus it costs good hard cash to manufacture an OLED display with pentiles instead of pixels and poor color accuracy.
I think it is safe to say that they aren't using an octo-core chipset to contain costs. I think it is also safe to say that if they could cram a dodeca-core chipset in a smartphone they would; after all their competitors already cram dodeca-core chipsets in tablets (which still doesn't resolve the performance issues).
Quote:
Originally Posted by AppleInsider
An analysis of parts found inside Samsung's new Galaxy S4 has concluded the flagship smartphone is more costly to build than Apple's iPhone 5, with a price tag of $237 for the 16-gigabyte model.
16 gigabyte???
Don't you mean the 8?
/s
Samsung should use an off-the-shelf, ready-to-use OS to save money, instead of having to build an OS from scratch.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cpsro
I believe the cost difference is mostly attributable to the authentic plastic shell of the S4.
Plus it costs good hard cash to manufacture an OLED display with pentiles instead of pixels and poor color accuracy.
Not to mention all the expense of copying ideas from others, as opposed to the relatively inexpensive process of inventing it all yourself!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cpsro
I believe the cost difference is mostly attributable to the authentic plastic shell of the S4.
Plus it costs good hard cash to manufacture an OLED display with pentiles instead of pixels and poor color accuracy.
Hate on brother, hate on. We'll ignore that reviewers seem to love the screen despite the pentile and.. uhm.. blacker than black blacks.
Apple: $4 billion in R&D costs
Samsung: $3.75 in copies at Kinkos.
yeah, what this neglected to mention was that iSuppli found that most of those parts are coming from Samsung itself - The screen, ram, camera module are all made by Samsung - they are basically their own supply chain, so Most of that cost goes right back to Samsung.
I thought the camera came from Sony, straight out of the Experia line.
Quote:
Originally Posted by agramonte
yeah, what this neglected to mention was that iSuppli found that most of those parts are coming from Samsung itself - The screen, ram, camera module are all made by Samsung - they are basically their own supply chain, so Most of that cost goes right back to Samsung.
The glass and the display too?
Quote:
Originally Posted by anantksundaram
The glass and the display too?
not the glass... the display yes.