Samsung ATIV S GT-i8750 Mobile Handset Teardown

IHS Insight Perspective

The Samsung ATIV Series is a line of mobile devices such as smartphones, tablets, and notebook computer introduced by Samsung that operate under the Windows 8 operating system. ATIV is the reversed spelling of the word 'vita' that means 'life'. This particular smartphone in this teardown analysis is the 16GB version ATIV S. This phone was annoced in August of 2012 at IFA in Berlin and released in December of 2012. This is Samsung's first smartphone to run Windows Phone 8 OS.

Samsung ATIV S GT-i8750 Mobile Handset Main Image

This Samsung smartphone feature a 4.8 HD Super AMOLED (1280x720) with on-cell touchscreen, a multi-mode, multi-band integrated Qualcomm applications processor & baseband processor running at 1.5GHz, an 8MP primary camera module (with BSI image sensor), and the processor is supported by 1GB (8Gbits) of DDR2 DRAM - which, increasingly, is becoming the standard for new smartphone designs.

Design Significance

This Samsung ATIV S seems almost like a Qualcomm reference design with the same chipsets we have seen in the HTC One S. This design approach demonstrates where Qualcomm and Intel are both headed - towards an oligopolistic domination of the mobile market. This is because few other suppliers will be able to compete with the breadth of product that both can offer as 'one stop shops' for phone OEMs or at the advanced geometries that this design features (28nm for the MSM8260A). This Samsung ATIV S shows that Qualcomm is leveraging their breadth into areas of feature integration (such as audio codec IC (WCD9310), and Wi-Fi/Bluetooth Combo chip (WCN3660) specifically), meaning Qualcomm is growing their share of the IC content on a per phone basis, but also in simple dollars and cents. Furthermore, Qualcomm still maintains in this design, all of the slots they usually dominate when a Qualcomm core processor is chosen. These 'defacto' companion ICs from Qualcomm include, in this case, the power management slots (PM8921, PM8821, & PM8018), and RF Transceiver slot (WTR1605).

Samsung ATIV S GT-i8750 Mobile Handset - Main PCB Top

High end smartphone market

This kind of smartphone represents, more or less, the high end of the smartphone continuum, or at least is part of that higher end.

Released

December, 2012 per press release

This phone was annoced in August of 2012 at IFA in Berlin, and released in December of 2012.

Samsung ATIV S GT-i8750 Mobile Handset - Main PCB Bottom

850 USD

The lowest e-tailer price found at the time of writing (Feb, 2013) is $640 USD.

Worldwide

Volume Estimations

700,000 Total Units
1 Total Years

For the purposes of this teardown analysis, we have assumed an Annual Production Volume of 700000 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.

Samsung ATIV S GT-i8750 Mobile Handset - Disassembly View 1

Per IHS iSuppli's research, smartphones are becoming the defining product that drives sales for handset OEMs, especially as entry-level and feature-phones fall by the wayside. In 2011, smart phones accounted for 33% of the 1.4 billion legal handsets sold; and by 2015 smartphones will grow to 60% of the total market. The future of the wireless handset industry will be shaped by trends in the smartphone segment.

Per IHS iSuppli's Design Forecast Tool: The total handset shipment will be around 1.44 billion in 2012, of which 655 millions will be smartphones and Samsung will contribute 167 millions (25.5%) towards the smartphone market in the same year.

Samsung ATIV S GT-i8750 Mobile Handset Cost Analysis

Samsung has incredible scale and vertical integration with an unequalled ability to supply the bulk of the $ value inside most Samsung phones. Whether the components are internally sourced or externally sourced, Samsung also has some of the most competitive pricing in the handset space along with Apple, and that is reflected in this pricing analysis.

Total BOM: $194.46
Top Cost Drivers below: $146.19
% of Total BOM 75%

Main Cost Drivers below

Samsung Mobile Display AMS480GY10 Display / Touchscreen Module - 4.8' Diagonal, On-Cell Touch AMOLED, 16.7M Colors, 1280 x 720 Pixels, 83.10um x 83.10um Pixel Size, 106.37mm x 59.83mm Viewable Area- (Qty: 1)
Qualcomm MSM8260A Apps / Baseband Processor - Dual-Band GSM/EDGE, HSPA+, Dual Core 1.5-1.7GHz CPU, gpsOne, BT4.0, 28nm- (Qty: 1)
Sandisk SDIN7DU2-16G Flash - eMMC iNAND, 16GB, MLC- (Qty: 1)
Primary Camera Module - 8MP, BSI CMOS, 1/3.2' Format, Auto Focus Lens- (Qty: 1)
Samsung K3PE7E700D-XGC2 SDRAM - Mobile DDR2, 1GB, PoP- (Qty: 1)
EB-L1M1NLU Battery - Li-Ion, 3.8V, 2300mAh, 8.74Wh, w/ Integrated NFC Antenna- (Qty: 1)
Qualcomm WTR1605 RF Transceiver - Multi-Mode, Multi-Band, CDMA/GSM/EDGE/EVDO Rev. B/HSPA+, GPS- (Qty: 1)
Qualcomm PM8921 Power Management IC- (Qty: 1)
Daeduck Electronics 10-Layer - FR4/RCF HDI, 3+4+3, Stacked Via, Lead-Free, Halogen-Free- (Qty: 1)
Secondary Camera Module - 1.9MP, BSI CMOS, 1/6' Format, Fixed Lens- (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.

Manufacturing Notes

Samsung manufactures most handsets in house taking advantage of the vertical integrations of various components. In fact, per IHS iSuppli's Global OEM Manufacturing & Design (GOMDA™) Q1 2012 - Wireless Handset report: Samsung outsourced only 3.6% of its handset production in 2011, and 96.4% is in-house volume. Its manufacturing partners are BYD and Kaifa, and their outsourced volume is respectively 2.4% and 1.2%.

The GOMDA also shows that Samsung's market share in wireless handset recorded 22.3% which ranks the second highest after Nokia with 27.4% in 2011. In 2012, it is expected Samsung's market share will clamp to ~30% according to IHS iSuppli's Design Forecast Tool (DFT) - mobile Handsets H1 2012.

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
Camera Assembly - China
Display / Touchscreen - China
Main PCB - China
Misc PCB Assemblies - China
Other - Enclosures / Final Assembly - 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.

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: 792 - Main PCB
Component Qty: 3 - Display / Touchscreen
Component Qty: 59 - Camera Assembly
Component Qty: 73 - Other - Enclosures / Final Assembly
Component Qty: 63 - Misc PCB Assemblies
Component Qty: 18 - Box Contents
Component Qty: 1008 - Grand Total

The average smartphone we teardown ranges from 900 to 1100 components in all, although LTE designs push, sometimes, much higher (into the 1500 component range) - traditional HSPA+ designs such as this remain in line with historic smartphone complexity.

Design Notes

This Samsung ATIV S seems almost like a Qualcomm reference design with the same chipsets we have seen in the HTC One S we torn down in 2012. This design approach demonstrates where Qualcomm and Intel are both headed - towards an oligopolistic domination of the mobile market. This is because few other suppliers will be able to compete with the breadth of product that both can offer as 'one stop shops' for phone OEMs or at the advanced geometries that this design features (28nm for the MSM8260A). This Samsung ATIV S shows that Qualcomm is leveraging their breadth into different areas of feature integration (audio codec IC (WCD9310), and Wi-Fi/Bluetooth Combo chip (WCN3660) specifically), meaning Qualcomm is growing their share of the IC content on a per phone basis, but also in simple dollars and cents. Furthermore, Qualcomm still maintains in this design, all of the slots they usually dominate when a Qualcomm core processor is chosen. These 'defacto' companion ICs from Qualcomm include, in this case, the power management slots (PM8921), and RF Transceiver slots (WTR1605).

Samsung ATIV S GT-i8750 Mobile Handset - Box Contents