SonyEricsson P1i Mobile Phone Teardown

Main Features / Overview

The P1i continues where previous P-series phones left off with the P990, in fact the first comment in SonyEricsson's press release is that the P1i is "25% smaller than P990. The P-series is directed towards business users, and the aesthetic of the phone is rather sober and straightforward.

The p1i is a smartphone in 'candybar' or monoblock format, with Tri-Band GPRS (900/1800/1900) and UMTS 2100 functionality, a full alpha-numeric keyboard at the base, and a relatively large (though common for PDAs) 2.6" diagonal touchscreen (transflective for enhanced performance in outdoor lighting conditions). In terms of core hardware-centric features the P1i also features WiFi (802.11b only), Bluetooth V1.2 , a 208MHz core applications processor, and significant built-in memory (256MB NAND, 128MB DRAM) which is expandable via a Memory Stick Micro slot.

Despite being geared towards Blackberry / business user, the P1i also features dual camera modules (3.1MP primary with auto-focus, and an SGA secondary camera module) and also features a stand-alone graphics / camera interface processor to handle this functionality.

Overall - despite being one of SonyEricsson's newest designs, it is a little odd that some choices were made that do not represent the latest market capabilities in terms of hardware (namely 802.11b (not g) WiFi interface, and Bluetooth V1.2 (not the much more common nowadays) V2.0).

SonyEricsson P1i Mobile Phone Main Image

Mainstream and business users (Blackberry users).

Released

Press release date for P1i - May 8, 2007 - ""available in selected markets from Q3 2007."

Pricing and Availability

Pricing - unlocked from multiple internet vendors, at the time of writing (Dec 2007), was found for as low as $415 USD and up. Officially available, per press release in 'selected markets' (undetermined).

Volume Estimations

For the purposes of this teardown analysis, we are assuming a total production volume for this model of 2.3 Million units over a 2-year lifetime. ISuppli lifetime production volume estimates are based on the assumption of 2-year life span and the company's current market position in the phone 'segment' (per DFT excerpt below).

As a reminder, teardown volume production assumptions are meant primarily to be 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.

SonyEricsson P1i Mobile Phone - Main PCB Top

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

ISuppli estimates unit shipments of 44 million WCDMA units in the 2007 global market. We further estimate 43 million units of 3 megapixel camera phones to ship in the 2007 global market by SonyEricsson.

Function / Performance

Functional testing was not performed on the SonyEricsson P1i.

SonyEricsson P1i Mobile Phone Cost Analysis

Main Cost Drivers Representing ~ 60% of total materials cost as follows :

Core Chipset

Texas Instruments - D751668B - DBB - Digital Baseband Processor

Texas Instruments - TWL93016EZQW - ABB - Analog Baseband / Power Management

NXP Semiconductors - RF2001 - RF Transceiver - ZIF, Tri-band, GSM

NXP Semiconductors - RF2101 - RF Transmitter - WCDMA

NXP Semiconductors - RF2111 - RF Receiver - WCDMA

Skyworks - SKY77334-12 - PAM - Tri-Band - GSM900/DCS1800/PCS1900

Skyworks - SKY77412-16 - PAM - WCDMA - 1920MHz-1980MHz

Applications Processor

Texas Instruments - D751980CIZ - Applications Processor

Memory

Samsung Semiconductor - KAL00900UM-D155 - MCP - 2Gb NAND Flash + 1Gb Mobile SDRAM - PoP

Other Items

ST Microelectronics - M36W0R6040T0ZAQ - MCP - 64Mb Flash + 16Mb PSRAM

User Interface Items

NXP Semiconductors - BGW200 - WLAN - IEEE 802.11b Baseband/MAC/RF Transceiver/Power Amplifier Single-Package Solution

Mtekvision - MV9319 - Image Processor - 5MP, w/ Real-Time Image Compression & High Speed Serial Interface

NXP Semiconductors - BGB204 - Bluetooth 1.2 SiP - 90nm Process, Embedded 268k ROM

Display

Display Module - 2.6' Diagonal, 262K Color TFT, 240 x 320 Pixels

Touchscreen Overlay - 4-Wire Resistive

Camera Modules

Primary Camera Module - 3.1MP CMOS, 1/3.2' Format

Secondary Camera Module - SGA CMOS, 400 x 400 Pixels, 1/9' Format - Fixed Lens

Batter(ies)

BST-40 - Battery - Li-Polymer, 3.6V, 1120mAh

Materials & Manufacturing $146.44

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 and 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

Sony Ericsson Relationships / Manufacturing

Sony Ericsson outsources roughly two-thirds of its mobile handsets to the likes of Flextronics and a couple of Taiwanese ODMs. Sony Ericsson centralizes its internal manufacturing activities in China and leverages the EMS provider's global footprint to tap emerging markets such as India and Brazil.

Country of Origin / Volume Assumptions

This product is labeled as Made in China, furthermore, we have assumed that for this model that PCB was also populated in China, and that custom mechanicals (plastics and metals) were also sourced domestically 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 chargers), 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. It is understood that modern manufacturing processes, specifically for SMT manufacturing lines are far more influenced by capital equipment cost drivers, than local labor rate influences.

Design for Manufacturing / Device Complexity

The SonyEricsson W950 features a stunning total component count of 1373 (not including box contents) of which 183 are mechanical in nature. This is, by any standard, a very elevated component count for a handset, even a smartphone - especially when one considers that the P1i is neither a slider or clamshell device.

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.

SonyEricsson P1i Mobile Phone - Enclosure Disassembly

Design Notes

The SonyEricsson P1i bears the most resemblance in our teardown history to the recently analyzed SonyEricsson W950i. The P1i has an above-average feature-set, which is reflected in the hardware choices. The device features, at it's core, an NXP PNX4008 applications processor with significant stacked package-on-package memory (PoP). But the P1i also features a second applications processor in the digital baseband section (Texas Instruments D751980CIZ) in addition to the Texas Instruments D751668B core digital baseband chip. Furthermore, in addition to the stacked memory directly supporting the core NXP processor, there is an additional and very conventional core 'handset' MCP (64Mb NOR + 16 Mb PSRAM) device.

To support some of the user interface features, the P1i also features NXP solutions for WiFi/WLAN 802.11b (BGW200), and Bluetooth V1.2 (BDB204), as well as an Mtekvision image processor supporting the dual camera modules (primary 3.1MP w autofocus, and secondary (SGA) camera modules).

The display is a 2.6" diagonal touchscreen that also features transflective structure making the display far more visible in bright (outdoor) lighting conditions.

Here is a summary of the major components used in the SonyEricsson P1i design:

Main PCB

MPU/Memory

• Apps Processor - NXP Semiconductors - PNX4008 - ARM9, 208MHz, 90nm
• MCP (Memory) - Samsung Semiconductor - KAL00900UM-D155 - 2Gb NAND + 1Gb DRAM, PoP

Digital Baseband

• DBB Processor - Texas Instruments - D751668B
• DBB - Apps Processor - Texas Instruments - D751980CIZ

Analog Baseband / Power Management

• ABB - Texas Instruments - TWL93016EZQW - Analog Baseband / Power Management
  

Memory

• MCP - ST Microelectronics -M36W0R6040T0ZAQ - 64Mb Flash + 16Mb PSRAM

RF Transceiver / Power Amp

• RF Transmitter - WCDMA - NXP - RF2101
• RF Receiver - WCDMA - NXP - RF2111
• RF Transceiver - ZIF, Tri-band, GSM - NXP - RF2001
• PAM - WCDMA, 1920 - 1980MHz - Skyworks - SKY77412-16
• PAM - Tri-Band, GSM900/DCS1800/PCS1900 - Skyworks - SKY77334-12

User Interface

• WLAN - NXP Semiconductors - BGW200 - IEEE 802.11b Baseband/MAC/RF Transceiver/Power Amplifier
• Image Processor - Mtekvision - MV9319 - 5MP, w/ Real-Time Image Compression & High Speed Serial Interface
• Bluetooth - NXP Semiconductors - BGB204 - V 1.2 SiP - 90nm Process, Embedded 268k ROM

Display

• 2.6' Diagonal, 262K Color TFT, 240 x 320 Pixels (Transflective)

Camera Modules

Camera Module (Primary)

• Image Sensor - Micron Technology - MT9T012
• Image Sensor - 3.1MP, CMOS, 1/3.2"" Format - Auto-Focus
• Light source (Flash) - LED

Camera Module (Secondary)

• Image Sensor - Omni Vision - OV6680
• SGA CMOS, 400 x 400 Pixels, 1/9' Format - Fixed Lens
• No light source (flash)

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SonyEricsson P1i Mobile Phone - Box Contents