Google Nexus Parts Cost $174, Slightly Less Than iPhone 3GS
11:14 am, January 11th, 2010, Ed Sutherland
Google’s Nexus One, the Internet giant’s first entry into the self-branded cell phone arena, costs $174.15 to build, making it just slightly more expensive that its rival from Apple, the iPhone, according to a Monday report. The figure from iSuppli also indicates the build price of the Google handset is just $5 under the subsidized $179 customers pay for the device when agreeing to a two-year T-Mobile contract.
The Nexus One retails for $529 if purchased unlocked and without a carrier’s contract.
Combining a Snapdragon baseband process (the most expensive component at $30.50) and a $23.70 3.7-inch Active-Matrix Organic Light Emitting Diode provides what iSuppli senior analyst Kevin Keller calls “the most advanced features of any smart phone” the company’s every torn-open.
In 2009, iSuppli found it cost $178.96 to build a 16GB version of Apple’s iPhone 3GS. In that review, Apple paid $24 for 16GB of memory from Toshiba, $19.25 for a 3.5-inch Toshiba display, and $13 for an Infineon processor. An 8GB iPhone 3G cost $174.33 to build, the company said.
Another costly component in the Google phone: memory. The company paid $20.40 for 512MB of DDR DRAM, 512MB of NAND flash memory and a 4GB MicroSD card – all from Samsung.
In a bit of irony, Andy Rubin, who lead the Android effort for Google, told author Ken Aluletta in Googled a smartphone “shouldn’t cost four hundred dollars. That’s absurd, if you add up all the components, somebody is making a lot of money.”
The iSuppli number do not include the expense of marketing, manufacturing, and preparing the phone for sale.
[Via Silcon Alley Insider and AppleInsider]
Posted by Ed Sutherland in News | Comment on this article
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