Despite the Samsung Galaxy S4 still feeling as cheap and plastic as the Samsung Galaxy S3, it actually costs more to make that the aluminium iPhone 5.
According to a teardown analysis of the Samsung Galaxy S4 by market research firm IHS, the Samsung flagship costs much more than its iPhone 5 Apple rival to manufacture.
The American version of the 32GB model of the Samsung Galaxy S4 costs a little more than $237 (£152.49) for the materials and manufacturing. In comparison, the iPhone 5 16GB model costs $205 (£131.90) despite its metal body, according to the IHS analysis conducted last year on the Apple flagship.
However, Samsung has an advantage over Apple in that it is able to supply itself with the parts required for the Samsung Galaxy S4. The South Korean electronics company manufactures a wide variety of components that it even supplies to Apple for the iPhone and iPad range, meaning that the majority of the cost of the Samsung Galaxy S4 is funnelled back into Samsung owned companies.
“Samsung’s strength is this ability to in-source to itself,” said IHS analyst Vincent Leung. “They just keep adding to the list of components that they can supply to themselves.”
The Samsung Galaxy S4 in the UK and other markets does contain a component that Samsung is not able to produce itself and that’s the CPU chip. The UK version of the Samsung flagship packs a 1.9GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, which adds $20 (£12.87) to the cost of every handset made.
“Even with all the vertical integration it’s doing, it’s not like Samsung has given up on Qualcomm,” said IHS analyst Andrew Rassweiler.
In the US and selected other markets, like South Korea, the Samsung Galaxy S4 is the first handset to feature an eight-core processor, the Samsung Exynos 5 Octa, priced at $28 (£18.02) a piece.
The Samsung Galaxy S4 packs 2GB of RAM, a 13-megapixel rear camera and Full HD Super AMOLED 5-inch screen among its many features.
Can’t decide between the Apple and Samsung smartphone offerings? Read our Samsung Galaxy S4 vs iPhone 5 comparison for a bit of help.
Via: All Things D
