Samsung Focus SGH-i917 Mobile Handset Teardown

Overview / Main Features

The Samsung Focus SGH-i917 handset is one of 2 Samsung handsets that debut with Microsoft Windows Phone 7 (WP7) in October 2010. As an early adopter of the new Windows Platform, Samsung has been demonstrating hardware running early versions of WP7 for well over a year to the WP7 developer community. The Focus SFH-i917 is also significant as it is one of a handful of WP7 handsets destined for the AT&T network which suggest that Samsung tailored the SGH-i917 design to meet both Microsoft's WP7 requirements as well as that of the US wireless carrier. The most notable design requirement is suggested by the integrated iNAND module that expands the internal storage by 8GB. In order to work around the OS memory access limitations, a specialized SiliconBlue FPGA was used to serve as a bridge chip in order to take advantage of this flash memory storage.

As with all other WP7 handsets, device makers has to met a specific minimum hardware such as a 480 x 800 pixel display, capacitive touchscreen and 5MP resolution camera. However, even more fundamental to those requirements, there appears to be a common thread of component commonality that is universal to all of the 10 first generation WP7 handsets: Qualcomm's Snapdragon QSD8x50 series chipset.

Overall, the Samsung Focus SGH-i917 is a tri-band UMTS / quad-band GSM smartphone that is designed with 4-inch Super-AMOLED display with integrated on-cell capacitive touchscreen that we have seen now as a marquee component in Samsung smartphones. The advantage of the Super-AMOLED display module is primarily in reducing the overall thickness of the display/touchscreen module assembly.

Samsung Focus SGH-i917 Mobile Handset Main Image

High end smartphones

Released

November 2010

Samsung Focus SGH-i917 Mobile Handset - Main PCB Top

Pricing - The Samsung Focus SGH-i917 sells through AT&T for approximately $99 with a 2-year contract agreement. AT&T also indicates that the non-subsidized cost of the handset to be $399. This reference price point is significantly less than other premium smartphones in this category that regularly sells for over $550 and have a typical subsidized price of $199.

Availability - AT&T (North America)

Volume Estimations

For the purposes of this teardown analysis, we have applied a lifetime production volume of approximately 500,000 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.

Samsung Focus SGH-i917 Mobile Handset - Main PCB Bottom

Main Cost Drivers ~85% of Total Materials Cost

Samsung Mobile Display - AMS397GE02 - Display / Touchscreen Module Value Line Item - Samsung Super AMOLED, 4.0' Diagonal, 16M Color AMOLED, 480 x 800 Pixels, w/ Capacitive Touchscreen

Qualcomm - QSD8250 - Baseband Processor - Quad-Band GSM/GPRS/EDGE, UMTS HSPA, 1GHz CPU, 600MHz DSP, WiFi, Bluetooth, gpsOne, 3D Graphics, Mobile Broadcast TV, 65nm

Micron Technology - MT29C8G96MAZAPDJA-5 IT - MCP - 8Gb NAND Flash + 4Gb Mobile DDR

Camera Assembly Value Line Item - Contains 5MP 1/4' AF Camera & Renesas MC-10170 Image Processor

SanDisk - SDIN4C2-8G - Flash - iNAND, MLC, 8GB

Samsung Electro-Mechanics - SWB-B23 - Bluetooth / WLAN Module - Contains Broadcom BCM4329 Single-Chip Solution, IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n, Bluetooth V2.1+EDR, 65nm

Elentec - EB575152VA - Battery - Li-Ion, 3.7V, 1500mAh

10-Layer - FR4/RCF HDI, 2+6+2, Lead-Free, Halogen-Free

Qualcomm - PM7540 - Power Management IC - w/ Integrated USB Transceiver

Qualcomm - RTR6285 - RF Transceiver - ZIF, Quad-Band GSM/EDGE, Tri-Band UMTS/HSPA Transceiver w/ Rx Diversity, Integrated GPS Receiver, 0.18um RF CMOS

SiliconBlue Technologies - iCE65L04F-TCS63I - FPGA - 200K Gates, 3520 Logic Cells, 48 User I/Os, 80Kb Embedded RAM, 256MHz, 65nm

ETA0U60JBE - Wall to USB Charger - 5V, 0.7A

Murata - FEM - Quad-Band GSM & Tri-Band WCDMA Antenna Switch, Quad-Band GSM Rx RF SAW Filters, WCDMA 2100 Duplexer

Handsfree Accessory - Stereo, Earphone / Microphone, 3.5mm Plug, w/ 3 Handsfree Control Buttons

Audience - A1026A01 - Voice Processor - Dynamic Noise Suppression SoC

Texas Instruments - TPS65023BRSB - Power Management IC - 3 Step-Down DC-DC Converters, 2 x 200mA LDOs, I2C Interface

Skyworks - SKY77336-13 - PAM - Quad-Band GSM/GPRS/EDGE

Yamaha - YAS529-PZ - Electronic Compass - 3-Axis, SPI / I2C Interface, w/ Built-In ADC, Amplifier, Clock Generator

Avago Technologies - ACPM-5251 - PAM - Dual-Band, WCDMA/HSPA 850/2100

Direct Materials + Manufacturing $166.97

Samsung Focus SGH-i917 Mobile Handset Cost Analysis

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

Country of Origin / Volume Assumptions

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

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 the 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.

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.

Samsung Focus SGH-i917 Mobile Handset - Disassembly View 1

Design for Manufacturing / Device Complexity

The Samsung Focus SGH-i917 under analysis here has an overall component count of 951 (excluding box contents), of which, 715 reside on the main PCB. This complexity level is on par with what we see in premium smartphone devices in this segment.

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 Korea.

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 core of the Samsung SGH-i917 design revolves around the QSD8250 chipset as well as the accompanying PM7450 power management chip and RTR6285 RF transceiver. We have seen this common reference design many times prior starting with the Toshiba TG01 (Windows Mobile 6 smartphone) in late 2009 and continuing throughout the many integrations of Android handsets thereafter so, we understand this Qualcomm platform to be quite mature.

Another interesting design choice lies within the memory function. The Samsung SGH-i917 is one of 2 WP7 handset designs we've come across that implements a FPGA to serve as a bridge chip to the on board iNAND module. Typically, in competitive OS designs, the iNAND module is treated as a separate storage volume and does not require any additional hardware intervention to attach. However, due to the unique architecture of WP7 and its handling of memory extension, additional hardware is needed to create a bridge between the primary storage (8Gb or 1GB of NAND within the MCP) and the managed NAND flash module.

Also, as with most premium smartphones, the Samsung Focus comes replete with sensors such as 3-axis accelerometer, ambient sensors and GPS. Of course, both WiFi and Bluetooth wireless connectivity comes standard. However, Samsung went above and beyond these prerequisite features and also added an audience noise suppression IC as well as an onboard image processing chip (within camera module) to enhance the functionality and performance in both those user interface areas.

Here is a summary of the major components used in the Samsung Focus SGH-i917 design:

Display / Touchscreen

• Display / Touchscreen Module - Samsung Mobile Display - AMS397GE02, Samsung Super AMOLED, 4.0' Diagonal, 16M Color AMOLED, 480 x 800 Pixels, w/ Capacitive Touchscreen

Main PCB

Apps / Baseband Processing

• Baseband Processor - Qualcomm- QSD8250, Quad-Band GSM/GPRS/EDGE, UMTS HSPA, 1GHz CPU, 600MHz DSP, WiFi, Bluetooth, gpsOne, 3D Graphics, Mobile Broadcast TV, 65nm

Memory

• MCP - Micron Technology - MT29C8G96MAZAPDJA-5 IT, 8Gb NAND Flash + 4Gb Mobile DDR
• Flash - SanDisk - SDIN4C2-8G, iNAND, MLC, 8GB

Power Management

• Power Management IC - Qualcomm - PM7540
• Power Management IC - Texas Instruments - TPS65023BRSB, 3 Step-Down DC-DC Converters, 2 x 200mA LDOs, I2C Interface

RF / PA

• RF Transceiver - Qualcomm - RTR6285, Quad-Band GSM/EDGE, Tri-Band UMTS/HSPA Transceiver w/ Rx Diversity, Integrated GPS Receiver, 0.18um RF CMOS
• FEM - Murata, Quad-Band GSM & Tri-Band WCDMA Antenna Switch, Quad-Band GSM Rx RF SAW Filters, WCDMA 2100 Duplexer
• PAM - Skyworks - SKY77336-13, Quad-Band GSM/GPRS/EDGE
• PAM - Avago Technologies - ACPM-5251, Dual-Band, WCDMA/HSPA 850/2100
• PAM - Avago Technologies - ACPM-5202, WCDMA/HSPA 1900

User Interface

• FPGA - SiliconBlue Technologies - iCE65L04F-TCS63I, 200K Gates, 3520 Logic Cells, 48 User I/Os, 80Kb Embedded RAM, 256MHz, 65nm
• Voice Processor - Audience - A1026A01, Dynamic Noise Suppression SoC
• Electronic Compass - Yamaha - YAS529-PZ, 3-Axis, SPI / I2C Interface, w/ Built-In ADC, Amplifier, Clock Generator
• Accelerometer - Bosch Sensortec - SMB380, MEMS 3-Axis, +-2g/4g/8g, Switchable via SPI & I2C Interfaces

Samsung Focus SGH-i917 Mobile Handset - Box Contents