Nintendo Wii U Basic Set 8GB Gaming Console Teardown

Summary Points

Console:

• Multi Chip Module integrates CPU, GPU and Memory from 3 different manufacturers into one package to cut down on package costs and power consumption.
• Onboard 8GB flash memory for storage

Game Pad:

• 6.2' LCD and touchscreen
• Accelerometer, gyroscope, geomagnetic sensors and NFC

Target Market

General Consumer

Nintendo Wii U Basic Set 8GB Gaming Console Main Image

November 18, 2012 US Release

Pricing and Availability

$300 USD MSRP

Price is for the Wii U Basic being analyzed. The Wii U Deluxe sells for $350.

Worldwide

The product was initially launched in North America but was rolled out internationally over a period of time. Now sold worldwide.

Volume Estimations

8,000,000 Annual Production Volume
1 Product Lifetime (Years)

For the purposes of this teardown analysis, we have assumed an Annual Production Volume of 8000000 units and a Product Lifetime Volume of 1 year(s).

Teardown volume and 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.

Nintendo Wii U Basic Set 8GB Gaming Console Cost Analysis

Total BOM: $241.87
Top Cost Drivers below: $138.48
% of Total BOM 57%

Main Cost Drivers below

RENESAS ELECTRONICS CORP Multi Chip Module - IBM Multi-Core PowerPC CPU 45nm, AMD Radeon GPU 40nm, Renesas EEPROM- (Qty: 1)
CHINA HUALU PANASONIC AVC NETWORKS RD-DKL034-ND Optical Drive - Slot Load, Internal, Proprietary Wii / Wii U Format- (Qty: 1)
Display Module - 6.2' Diagonal, Color TFT, 854 x 480 Pixels- (Qty: 1)
MICRON TECHNOLOGY INC MT41K256M16HA-125:E SDRAM - DDR3L-1600, 4Gb, 1.35V- (Qty: 4)
Main Console AC Adapter - 15V, 5A Output- (Qty: 1)
SANTIS SUBSTRATES LTD 6-Layer - FR4, Lead-Free- (Qty: 1)
SK HYNIX INC H27U8G8G5DTR Flash - NAND, 8Gb, SLC- (Qty: 1)
HON HAI PRECISION INDUSTRY CO LTD MIC-B2 WLAN Module B - IEEE802.11n, 5GHz, 2x2 MIMO- (Qty: 1)
HON HAI PRECISION INDUSTRY CO LTD MIC-A2 WLAN Module - IEEE802.11a/b/g/n, 5GHz- (Qty: 1)
TOSHIBA CORP THGBM4G6D2HBAIR Flash - eMMC NAND, 8GB, MLC- (Qty: 1)

Not Included in 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.

We do provide an Excel tab 'Overall Costs' where a user can enter their known pre and post production costs to build a per unit cost reflective of theirs actual expenditures.

Country of Origin

For the purposes of this analysis, we are assuming the following country(ies) of origin for each level of assembly, based on a combination of 'Made In' markings, and/or assumptions based on our knowledge of such equipment.

Box Contents - China
Console - China
Game Pad - 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 Module), 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.

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 Complexity

Component counts by assembly and the number of assembly are indicators of design complexity and efficiency.

Component Qty: 1289 - Console
Component Qty: 650 - Game Pad
Component Qty: 24 - Box Contents
Component Qty: 1963 - Grand Total

The Wii U has 1975 total components compared to the original Wii total component count of 1095. The increase in components can be attributed to more features and a more complex controller.

Nintendo Wii U Basic Set 8GB Gaming Console - Box Contents