Samsung SGH-Z170 Mobile Phone Teardown

Overview / Main Features

The Samsung SGH-Z170 feels like a retrospective design, a tribute to 2005 - only we are in 2008. The basic design is based on a Qualcomm chip (MSM6250, not the more evolved MSM6250A) that we have not seen since then, and is essentially very similar to the Samsung SGH-Z140 we analyzed back 3 years prior.

The SGH-Z170 is a candybar form factor mobile with a single 1.8 diagonal 262K 176x220 TFT display, dual cameras: a 1.3MP primary camera module, and a VGA secondary, and it features Bluetooth V2.0.

Overall - this phone is, at the time of writing, what has really become a mid-market mainstream phone with no particular standout features.

Samsung SGH-Z170 Mobile Phone Main Image

Mainstream users - 3G entry-level.

Release / Availability

Not found.

Pricing

Found for as low as ~$145 USD unlocked online.

Volume Estimations

For the purposes of this teardown analysis, we have assumed a lifetime production volume of 1.3 M 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 SGH-Z170 Mobile Phone - Main PCB Top

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.

From our Design Forecast Tool (DFT), we estimate unit shipments of 116 Million WCDMA handsets to ship in the 2008 global market, and we further estimate unit shipments of 301 Million 1 megapixel camera phones to ship in the 2008 global market.

Samsung SGH-Z170 Mobile Phone Cost Analysis
Samsung SGH-Z170 Mobile Phone Cost Analysis

Main Cost Drivers

Qualcomm - MSM6250 - Baseband Processor - Single-Chip, Quad-Band GSM/GPRS, GPS, UMTS & Bluetooth - Qty(1)

Samsung Semiconductor - K5D1G13DCM-D090 - MCP - 1Gb NAND Flash, 512Mb Mobile SDRAM - Qty(1)

Display Module - 1.8' Diagonal, 262K Color TFT, 176 x 220 Pixels - Qty(1)

Primary Camera Module - 1.3MP CMOS, 1/3.8' Format - Qty(1)

Samsung - AB533640BE - Battery - Li-Ion - 3.7V - 880mAh - Qty(1)

Secondary Camera Module - VGA, CMOS, 1/7.4' Format - Qty(1)

Qualcomm - RTR6250 - RF Transceiver - ZIF, Quad-Band GSM/GPRS Transceiver and Tri-Band UMTS 800/1900/2100MHz Transmitter - Qty(1)

Qualcomm - RFR6250 RF Receiver - ZIF, Dual Band WCDMA (UMTS) 1900 & 2100MHz, GPS - Qty(1)

Muruta - FEM - Tri-Band GSM, Single-Band UMTS Antenna Switch & 2 SAW Filters - Qty(1)

Qualcomm - PM6650 - Power Management IC - Qty(1)

Broadcom - BCM2045 - Bluetooth - Single-Chip HCI Solution, V2.0+EDR, 0.13um - Qty(1)

Skyworks - SKY77318-12 - PAM - Quad-Band, GSM/GPRS

Total w/ Manufacturing $81.20

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.

Samsung SGH-Z170 Mobile Phone - Main PCB Bottom

Manufacturing Notes

Samsung Relationships / Manufacturing

Per iSuppli's ""Global OEM Manufacturing and Design Analysis (GOMDA)", we estimate that Samsung to date still performs 100% of its handset manufacturing in-house.

Even with their Korean competitors, LG, they have only in recent years did LG start to use a number of Taiwanese ODMs for smart phones and low-cost GMS and CDMA phones - but this represents only a few percent of total production.

Country of Origin / Volume Assumptions

This product, as is typically the case for Samsung, was labeled as made in Korea. Furthermore, we have assumed that for this model, that the PCB was also populated in Korea, and that custom mechanicals (plastics and metals) were sourced locally as well.

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 Bluetooth modules), 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 SGH-Z170 Mobile Phone - Enclosure Disassembly

Design for Manufacturing / Device Complexity

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.

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 design revolves around a Qualcomm MSM6250 chipset which is, at the time of writing, really getting on in age (introduced in 2003). The last time we saw the MSM6250 (not the more evolved MSM6250A with die shrink / process migration) goes back nearly 3 years. Nonetheless, the Samsung SGH-Z170 design, like most designs with a Qualcomm core, features mostly Qualcomm major IC's to support the core baseband, which includes, the Qualcomm PM6650 power management device (found in 90%+ of Qualcomm-based designs we see), the Qualcomm RTR6250 RF Transceiver, and RFR6250 RF Receiver.

In addition there are Skyworks PAMs - (GSM and WCDMA), and a Samsung NAND/SDRAM MCP in the memory slot.

Overall this is a fairly basic design of limited scope and cost - though it does feature a secondary camera.

Main PCB

Baseband

Baseband Processor - Qualcomm - MSM6250 - Single-Chip, Quad-Band GSM/GPRS, GPS, UMTS & Bluetooth

Battery / Power Management

Power Management IC - Qualcomm - PM6650

Memory

MCP - Samsung Semiconductor - K5D1G13DCM-D090 - 1Gb NAND Flash, 512Mb Mobile SDRAM

RF Transceiver

RF Transceiver - Qualcomm - RTR6275 - ZIF, Quad-Band GSM/GPRS/EDGE Transceiver, Tri-Band UMTS 850/1900/2100MHz Transmitter, Single Band UMTS Receiver

Power Amplifier(s)

PAM(GSM) - Skyworks - SKY77318-12 - Quad-Band, GSM/GPRS

PAM (WCDMA) - Skyworks - SKY77173 - WCDMA 2100, 1920-1980 MHz

User Interface

Bluetooth - Broadcom - BCM2045 - Single-Chip HCI Solution, V2.0+EDR, 0.13u

Display

2.0' Diagonal, 262K Color TFT, 176 x 220 Pixels

Camera Module

Primary - 1.3MP CMOS, 1/3.8' Format, Fixed Lens

Secondary - VGA, CMOS, 1/7.4' Format, Fixed Lens

"

Samsung SGH-Z170 Mobile Phone - Box Contents