Samsung SGH-E200 Eco Mobile Phone Teardown

Overview / Main Features

The Samsung SGH-E200 Eco is a slim-form (9.9mm think) tri-band GSM/EDGE candybar handset from the Korea manufacturer with an ecologically friendly design twist. As Samsung's press release states, the E200 Eco uses renewable "bio-plastics" for most of the handset's enclosures. Samsung claims that the "1-ton of bio-plastic used in E200 Eco is able to reduce 2.16-ton of CO2 compared with Polycarbonate produced from petroleum." However, upon further research, the extent of the use of these bio-plastics is inherently limited since these bio-based polymers are blended with traditional petroleum-based plastics to create enclosures that meet manufacturer's specifications for durability.

Overall, aside from the environmentally conscious design changes, the E200 Eco is essentially a variant of Samsung's stock SGH-E200 model from their "ultra-slim" line of handsets. The handset features a 1.3MP camera, media player and an integrated FM radio. The E200 has a 1.8 inch TFT display with 65K colors and provisions for expanded memory through microSD card reader.

Target Market

Low-cost / ecologically-conscious handset consumers

Released

Per press releases (August 14th, 2008), the Eco variant of the SGH-E200 was launched in time for the Summer Olympics in Beijing.

Pricing and Availability

Pricing - Mobile handset pricing typically has little bearing on the true market value of the device due to the fact that service carrier invariably use subsidies to incentivize consumers to commit to long term service contracts.

Availability - This particular variant of the Samsung SGH-E200 is available in select markets in Asia and Europe.

Volume Estimations

For the purposes of this teardown analysis, we have assumed a lifetime production volume of 1.7M units.

As a reminder, teardown volume production assumptions are primarily used for our cost analysis in terms of amortized NRE and tooling costs, especially for custom components specific to the model being analyzed (mechanical components especially). Unless assumed volumes are different by an order of magnitude, minor changes in volume (say 1 million vs. 2) rarely have a large net effect on our final analysis because of this.

iSuppli's Design Forecast Tool (DFT) and Market Shares

As part of iSuppli's Design Forecast Tool (DFT), we forecast handset shipments by major design feature and manufacture, as well as the number of design starts a manufacturer will have by feature set.

In 2009, the iSuppli DFT forecasts approximately 232M GSM/EDGE handset shipments worldwide with Samsung having an approximately 15.3% global market share.

Cost Notes

Refer to BOM (XLS file) for detail analysis

Main Cost Drivers (Representing ~75% of total materials cost)

$6.50 - Samsung Semiconductor - KAP29VN00M-D444 - MCP - 256Mb NOR Flash + 256Mb OneNAND Flash + 256Mb UtRAM

$6.41 - ST-Ericsson - PNX6511EL1 - Baseband - Quad-Band GSM/GPRS/EDGE, ARM Core

$5.20 - Display Module Value Line Item - 1.8" Diagonal, 65K Color TFT, 220 x 176 Pixels

$3.27 - Camera Module Value Line Item - 1.3MP CMOS, 1/5" Format, Fixed Lens

$2.64 - Samsung - AB483640DE - Battery - Li-Ion, 3.7V, 820mAh

$1.57 - Charger - 5.0V, 700mA, 1.8m Cord

$1.37 - Broadcom - BCM2045SB2KFBG - Bluetooth - Single-Chip, V2.0+EDR, 0.13um

$1.25 - Anadigics - AWT6172RM33P8 - PAM - Quad-Band GSM/GPRS/EDGE, w/ Integrated Power Control

$1.21 - DAP Corp. - 8-Layer - FR4/RCF HDI, 2+4+2, Lead-Free, Halogen-Free

$1.07 - ST-Ericsson - AERO4221 - RF Transceiver - Quad-Band, GSM/GPRS/EDGE

$1.02 - Internal Shielding / Mounting Bracket - Die-Cast Magnesium, Plated, Printed, w/ FIP Gasket

$1 - Handsfree Accessory - Earphone/Microphone, Stereo, w/ Single Control Button, 1.3m Cord

$1 - Keypad Assembly - Injection Molded Clear Polycarbonate Keys, Painted & Printed, on Silicone Rubber Substrate

$0.90 - Enclosure, Main, Bottom - Injection Molded Polycarbonate/Polylactide, w/ EMI Coating

$0.81 - ST-Ericsson - PCF50611 - Power Management IC - 500mA DC/DC Converter, 75mA Charge Pump & 10 LDOs, Integrated SIM-card Interface

$0.66 - 2-Layer - Flex Kapton

$0.61 - Enclosure, Main, Battery Cover - Injection Molded Polycarbonate/Polylactide, Painted, Printed

$0.60 - Display Window - Injection Molded Clear Polycarbonate, Painted, w/ PSA

Direct Materials $49.26

Total BOM Cost$51.12

What Is Not Included in our Cost Analysis

The total materials and manufacturing costs reported in this analysis reflect ONLY the direct materials cost (from component vendors and assorted EMS providers), AND manufacturing with basic test. Not included in this analysis are costs above and beyond the material manufacture of the core device itself - cost of intellectual property, royalties and licensing fees (those not already included into the per component price), software, software loading and test, shipping, logistics marketing and other channel costs including not only EMS provider and the OEM's margin, but that of other resellers. Our cost analysis is meant to focus on those costs incurred in the manufacture of the core device and exceptionally in some circumstances the packaging and literature as well.

Manufacturing Notes

OEM/ODM/EMS Relationships / Manufacturing

According to iSuppli's "Global OEM Manufacturing and Design Analysis - Q1 2009", Samsung's manufacturing profile in 2008 is entirely vertically integrated. Samsung still engages with Foxconn for finished PCB and sub-assemblies but operates all final assembly work within a Samsung manufacturing facility.

Country of Origin / Volume Assumptions

Based on markings, the unit was assembled in China. Furthermore, we have assumed that custom mechanicals (plastics, metals, etc.) were also sourced in China.

Country of origin assumptions relate directly to the associated cost of manufacturing, where calculated by iSuppli. In the cases of "finished" sub-assemblies (such as display), we do not calculate internal manufacturing costs, but rather assess the market price of the finished product in which case country of origin assumptions may or may not have a direct effect on pricing.

Remember also that labor rates are applied directly only to hand inserted components and systems in our bill of materials, and although regional assumptions do, these new rates do not have a direct effect on our modeled calculations of placement costs for automated SMD assembly lines. "Auto" inserted components (such as SMT components) placement costs are calculated by an iSuppli algorithm which allocates a cost per component based on the size and pincount of the device. This calculation is affected by country or region of origin as well.

Design for Manufacturing / Device Complexity

The Samsung SGH-E200 Eco has an overall component count of 441, of which, 16 are box contents and 109 are mechanical in nature. Compared to other low cost candybar handsets we've seen in history, the E200 Eco has a slightly higher (50+) complexity but overall is very comparable to other devices in its category.

Component counts have a direct bearing on the overall manufacturing cycle times and costs, and also can increase or decrease overall yields and re-work. Our calculations of manufacturing costs factor counts and more qualitative complexities in the design. The cost of manufacturing is also, to some extent, decreased in this case because of assumed labor rate applied for China.

Note that manual labor has a much smaller effect on auto-insertion assembly lines (for the Main PCB, for example), where manufacturing costs are much more capital equipment intensive and driven by these investment costs.

Design Notes

The Samsung SGH-E200 uses a NXP ARM-based baseband processor (ST-Ericsson PNX6511EL1) to handle the tri-band GSM/EDGE functionalities as well as overall handset operations. We have seen past Samsung handsets using NXP DBBs and therefore not surprising to see the slot win in this particular handset. Naturally, Samsung included a MCP memory from their memory division. In the E200, it is a 256Mb NOR Flash + 256Mb OneNAND Flash along with 256Mb UtRAM. We see ST-Ericsson again in the power management section of the phone (PCF50611) as well as the RF Transceiver section (AERO4221). Rounding out the cellular radio design is the Anadigic quad-band power amplifier module (AWT6172RM33P8). Another notable design allocation is the Broadcom Bluetooth single chip solution (BCM2045SB2KFBG).

Here is a summary of the major components used in the Samsung SGH-E200 Eco design:

Main PCB

Baseband

• ST-Ericsson - PNX6511EL1, Quad-Band GSM/GPRS/EDGE, ARM Core

Memory

• MCP - Samsung Semiconductor - KAP29VN00M-D444, 256Mb NOR Flash + 256Mb OneNAND Flash + 256Mb UtRAM

Bluetooth

• Broadcom - BCM2045SB2KFBG, Single-Chip, V2.0+EDR, 0.13um

Battery / Power Management

• Power Management IC - ST-Ericsson - PCF50611, 500mA DC/DC Converter, 75mA Charge Pump & 10 LDOs, Integrated SIM-card Interface

RF Transceiver

• ST-Ericsson - AERO4221, Quad-Band, GSM/GPRS/EDGE

Power Amplifier

• Anadigics - AWT6172RM33P8, Quad-Band GSM/GPRS/EDGE, w/ Integrated Power Control

User Interface

• Audio Power Amplifier - National Semiconductor - LM4946SQ, Mono, Differential, 540mW, BTL
• FM Radio Tuner - Silicon Laboratories - Si4221B-GM

Display

• Display Module - 1.8" Diagonal, 65K Color TFT, 220 x 176 Pixels

Camera

• Image Sensor (1.3MP) - Samsung Semiconductor

Samsung SGH-E200 Eco Mobile Phone_(iSi) - Box Contents