July 03, 2007
iSuppli iPhone Analysis: Physical Teardown, Manufacturer Wins, Predictions
By Mae Kowalke, TMCnet Contributor
Technology research and consultancy firm iSuppli revealed on Tuesday its analysis so far of the new iPhone (News - Alert) from Apple. The firm conducted a physical “teardown” of the product, disassembling it into its component parts, and also conducted a similar level of inspection regarding potential impact of iPhone on the mobile phone market.
The physical teardown allowed iSuppli to create what it called a Bill-of-Materials (BoM), listing all the parts and which companies manufactured them. While the list roughly matched iSuppli’s predictions from earlier in the year, the firm did say that iPhone contained a few surprises.
One of those surprises was the representation of manufacturing newcomers Infineon Technologies (News - Alert) AG, National Semiconductor Corp. and TPK Solutions (Balda), all of which contributed key components to the product. More established component makers such as Samsung (News - Alert) Electronics Co. Ltd. were also, not surprisingly, represented.
iSuppli was able to determine to that the touch screen module on iPhone was manufactured by TPK Solutions (Balda) and the display module by Epson, Sharp and TMD.
Infineon, iSuppli reported, was one of the biggest newcomer winners in terms of being tapped to manufacture iPhone components. This Germany-based semiconductor supplier, the firm said, made the following iPhone components: digital baseband, radio-frequency
transceiver and power-management devices.
transceiver and power-management devices. Based on the BoM it created, iSupplie estimated that the 8GB version of iPhone has a total hardware and manufacturing cost of $265.83, resulting in more than 55 percent margin on each iPhone sold for $599. That is virtual identical to iSuppli’s January estimate of $264.84. (These numbers do not include royalties and logistics expenses.)
Digger even deeper, iSuppli determined values for each of the components in iPhone. The table below summarizes this information.
|
Component(s)
|
Manufacturer(s)
|
Value
|
|
Infineon
|
Digital baseband, radio-frequency transceiver, power management devices
|
$15.25
|
|
National
|
Serial display interface chip (connects display to graphics controller)
|
$1.50
|
|
TPK Solutions (Balda)
|
Display module
|
$27.00
|
|
Touch-screen display
|
$24.50
|
|
|
Samsung
|
Applications processor
|
$14.25
|
|
Samsung
|
NAND flash memory
|
$48.00
|
|
Samsung
|
SDRAM
|
$14.00
|
|
CSR pls
|
Bluetooth
silicon |
$1.90
|
|
Marvell
|
WiFi
baseband chip |
$6.00
|
As the table above shows, Samsung took the lion’s share of component wins for iPhone. iSuppli also reported that Wolfson, which has contributed designs to the iPod product famly, designed iPhone’s audio codec.
.So, given what it’s made of, what lies ahead for iPhone? iSuppli noted that sales kicked off “with a bang,” and the firm predicts this trend will continue. iSuppli analyst Tina Teng estimated that Apple (News - Alert) will ship 4.5 million iPhone units during 2007, and that this figure will grow to 30 million annual shipments by 2011.
To learn even more about mobile phones, check TMCnet’s White Paper Library, which provides a selection of in-depth information on relevant topics affecting the IP communications industry. The library offers white papers, case studies and other documents free to registered users.
communications industry. The library offers white papers, case studies and other documents free to registered users. Mae Kowalke previously wrote for Cleveland Magazine in Ohio and The Burlington Free Press in Vermont. To see more of her articles, please visit Mae Kowalke’s columnist page. Also check out her Wireless Mobility blog.
