Google’s Nexus One’s hardware, is estimated to cost at a relatively high margin of US$174.15 (disregarding costs needed for manufacturing, development of software, and component costs), according to analysts from iSuppli.
Launched on Tuesday, the new smartphone from Google runs on the Android 2.1 mobile technology platform and its hardware is manufactured by Taiwan’s HTC. The Nexus One, which comes in a 3.7-inch widescreen AMOLED touchscreen display, boasts a 5 megapixels camera and the ability to include location of photos from phone’s AGPS receiver.
Instead of merely stating the estimated cost of the hardware, the folks at iSuppli even gave a detailed breakdown of the preliminary bill-of-materials (BOM) for the Nexus One. Among the most expensive parts include its Qualcomm QSD 8250 processor ($30.50), followed by its 3.7-inch (diagonal) widescreen WVGA AMOLED touchscreen display ($23.50), then its multichip package supplied by Samsung Semiconductor ($20.40).
iSuppli estimates the cost of the phone’s capacity touchscreen assembly by Synaptics at $17.50, or 10 per cent of the total BOM.
“Items like the durable unibody construction, the blazingly fast Snapdragon baseband processor and the bright and sharp Active-Matrix Organic Light Emitting Diode (AMOLED) display all have been seen in previous phones, but never before combined into a single design,” Kevin Keller, senior analyst for iSuppli, said in a statement.
As compared to Google’s Nexus One, the total cost of Apple’s iPhone 3GS 16GB is about $179, four dollars more than the Google phone. The Nexus One is priced at $179 with a two-year T-Mobile service plan or at $529 for the unlocked version. Meanwhile, the iPhone 3GS 16GB retail price is $199 with a 2-year contract.
