Samsung Galaxy S IV to Cost More to Produce than GSIII

A "virtual teardown" performed by the HIS iSuppli Mobile Handset Cost Model Service has revealed that the recently-announced Samsung Galaxy S IV has a $236 bill of materials (BOM), 15% higher than that of its predecessor, the Galaxy S III.

The increase in BOM is due to the upgrades to the display, sensors, and application processor and supporting memory, bringing the cost for the HSPA+ model (with 16 GB of storage) to a total of $244.00 once the $8.50 manufacturing cost is accounted for. That's $30.40 higher than the Galaxy S III equivalent.

Though the exact BOM may change pending IHS's actual physical teardown of the Galaxy S IV, the virtual teardown was able to pinpoint the display as the largest area of cost increase when comparing the two models. The screen on Samsung's newest flagship is a full HD (1920 x 1080) AMOLED display, which sports a higher resolution than the 1280 x 720 display on the Galaxy S III and brings its estimated to cost $75, up from $65 for the Galaxy S III.

Other cost increases stem from the Exynos 5 Octa app processor, which costs $30 (up from $17.50), and the wide array of sensors with which the Galaxy S IV is equipped. Because of the new sensors that were not present in the Galaxy S III -- the humidity, temperature, and IR gesture sensors -- the total cost comes to $16, up from $12.70.

Source: IHS.com