Nexus One Manufacturing Costs Revealed
The beancounters over at iSuppli have taken Google’s Nexus One smartphone apart and calculated it costs approximately £107.85 to make
“The Snapdragon was first noted in a previous smartphone torn down by iSuppli – the [Toshiba] TGO1 – which is based on [Microsoft’s] Windows Mobile operating system,” wrote Keller. “However, the Android 2.1 operating system used in the Nexus One better capitalises on the Snapdragon’s fast performance, making the user interface and applications run very quickly. This processing muscle also gives the Nexus One some advanced capabilities, most notably high-definition 720p video playback.”
The second most expensive bit on the Nexus One is perhaps its most immediately noticeable feature, the 3.7-inch Samsung AMOLED display, which costs $23.50 (£14.55). The Samsung Moment and Behold II also feature AMOLED displays, which are said to offer crisper colours, wider viewing angles and, as iSuppli’s Keller added, a “stunning picture.” The capacitive multitouch screen, from Synaptics, is a separate $17.50 (£10.83).
The Nexus One’s considerable memory – 4G bits (512M bytes) of Samsung double-data rate DRAM – is the third-ranking item on the BOM, at $20.40 (£12.63).
Also notable, said iSuppli, is the Nexus One’s audio voice processor chip, from Audience Semiconductor, which helps to reduce background noise to the phone’s dual microphones; it’s the first part from this manufacturer that iSuppli has seen.
Additionally, Nexus One’s unibody design makes the device sturdier than one with an enclosure comprising several pieces, but is more costly to manufacture.
“Besides [Apple’s] iPhone, this marks the first unibody smartphone design that iSuppli’s teardown analyst team has noted,” according to the report.
The iSuppli report added, “With the Nexus One, HTC has taken a major cue from Apple in the enclosure design, making it the most ‘Apple-like’ product yet seen from any in the competition, and others are likely to follow suit.”
