LG Quantum C900 Mobile Handset Teardown

Overview / Main Features

The LG Quantum C900 handset is one of 2 LG handsets that debut with Microsoft Windows Phone 7 (WP7) in October 2010. As an early adopter of the new Windows Platform, LG has been demonstrating hardware running early version of WP7 for well over a year to the WP7 developer community. The Quantum C900 is also significant as it is one of a handful of WP7 handsets destined for the AT&T network which suggest that LG tailored the C900 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 eMMC module that expands the internal storage by 16GB. 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 LG Quantum C900 is a tri-band UMTS / quad-band GSM smartphone that is designed with 3.5-inch TFT touchscreen display and a landscape sliding QWERY keypad. Due to this physical design, LG separated the core design among 2 major PCB assemblies: (1) the main PCB which contains the QSD8650 chipset and (2) Interface PCB that contains the eMMC module, BT/WLAN IC as well as other User Interface functions components.

LG Quantum C900 Mobile Handset Main Image

High end smartphones

Released

November 2010

LG Quantum C900 Mobile Handset - Main PCB Top

Pricing - The LG Quantum C900 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.

LG Quantum C900 Mobile Handset - Main PCB Bottom

Main Cost Drivers ~85% of Total Materials Cost

Qualcomm - QSD8650 - Baseband Processor - Dual-Mode, CDMA2000 1xEvDO/GSM/EDGE/HSPA, 1GHz CPU, WiFi, Bluetooth, gpsOne, 3D Graphics, Mobile Broadcast TV, 65nm

Toshiba Semiconductor - THGBM2G7D4FBAI9 - Flash - eMMC NAND, MLC, 16GB

LG Display Co., Ltd. - LH350WV2-SD12 - Display Module Value Line Item - 3.5' Diagonal, 16.7M Color TFT, 480 x 800 Pixels

Hynix - H8BES0UU0MCR-4EM - MCP - 4Gb NAND Flash + 4Gb Mobile DDR

Touchscreen Assembly / Display Window - 3.5' Diagonal, Capacitive, Glass Overlay, Painted, Printed, Contains Synaptics T1320A Touch Controller

Camera Assembly Value Line Item - 5.0MP, CMOS, 1/4' Format, Auto Focus Lens

Samsung Semiconductor - SWB-B25 - Bluetooth / FM / WLAN Module - Contains Broadcom BCM4329EKUBG, IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n, Bluetooth V2.1+EDR, FM Tx/Rx, 65nm

LG Innotek - 10-Layer - FR4/RCF, Stacked Via, Lead-Free, Halogen-Free

LGIP-690F - Battery - Li-ion, 3.7V, 1500mAh

QWERTY Keypad Insulator - Clear Polycarbonate Sheet, Die-Cut, w/ Black Mylar on Edge & PSA

3-Layer - Flex Kapton, Lead-Free, w/ Stiffeners

3-Layer - Flex Kapton, Lead-Free

Sliding Mechanism - Insert-Molded, Stamped / Formed Metal, 3-Pieces, Spot-Welded, Injection Molded Glass-Filled Polycarbonate, Painted, w/ ESD/EMI Coating, Integral Spring-Loaded Detent Mechanism & Multiple Metal Inserts

4-Layer - Rigid/Flex Hybrid, FR4/Kapton, 1+2+1, 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

Sunlin Electronics - STA-U13WR - Wall to USB Charger - 4.8V, 1A

Skyworks - SKY77544-11 - Transmit Module - PAM, Quad-Band GSM/GPRS/EDGE, w/ Integrated SP9T Antenna Switch

Enclosure, Main, Battery Cover - Insert-Molded, Stamped / Formed Metal, 6-Pieces, Spot-Welded, Injection Molded Plastic, Painted, Printed

Handsfree Accessory - Stereo, Earphone / Microphone, 3.5mm Plug, w/ Single Control Button

Texas Instruments - TPS65023RSB - Power Management IC - 3 Step-Down DC-DC Converters, 2 x 200mA LDOs, I2C Interface

Enclosure, Main, Bottom - Injection Molded Polycarbonate, Printed, w/ ESD/EMI & Rubberized Coating

Direct Materials + Manufacturing $188.48

LG Quantum C900 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.

LG Quantum C900 Mobile Handset - Disassembly View 1

Design for Manufacturing / Device Complexity

The LG Quantum C900 under analysis here has an overall component count of 1073 (excluding box contents), of which, 577 reside on the main PCB. This complexity level represents the upper range of our smartphone population. Typically, physically complex devices such as a landscape slider adds to the overall complexity and the LG Quantum C900 is no exception.

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 LG Quantum C900 design revolves around the Qualcomm QSD8650 chipset as well as the accompanying PM7450 power management chip and RTR6285 RF transceiver. What is interesting is LG's decision to use the QSD8650 (as opposed to the UMTS/GSM-only QSD8250). Perhaps this is a case where the LG was destined for a CDMA network when last minute launch plans pushed the delivery to a UMTS network. Another scenario is a supply chain / sourcing issue of procuring these parts from Qualcomm. Whichever the case it turns out being, the selection of a QSD8650 (according to our pricing methodology) tends to drive up the cost of the IC because we have assumed that the added features (UMTS+CDMA support) commands a higher price.

Another interesting design choice lies within the memory function. The LG Quantum C900 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 eMMC module. Typically, in competitive OS designs, the eMMC module is treated as a separate storage volume. 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 (4Gb of NAND within the MCP) and the managed NAND in the eMMC module.

Here is a summary of the major components used in the LG Quantum C900 design:

Display / Touchscreen

• Display Module LG Display Co., Ltd. - LH350WV2-SD12, 3.5' Diagonal, 16.7M Color TFT, 480 x 800 Pixels
• Touchscreen Assembly - 3.5' Diagonal, Capacitive, Glass Overlay, Painted, Printed, Contains Synaptics T1320A Touch Controller

Main PCB

Apps / Baseband Processing

• Baseband Processor - Qualcomm- QSD8650, Dual-Mode, CDMA2000 1xEvDO/GSM/EDGE/HSPA, 1GHz CPU, 600MHz DSP, WiFi, Bluetooth, gpsOne, 3D Graphics, Mobile Broadcast TV, 65nm

Memory

• MCP - Hynix - H8BES0UU0MCR-4EM, 4Gb NAND Flash + 4Gb Mobile DDR

Power Management

• Power Management IC - Qualcomm - PM7540
• Power Management IC - Texas Instruments - TPS65023RSB, 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
• Transmit Module - Skyworks - SKY77544-11, PAM, Quad-Band GSM/GPRS/EDGE, w/ Integrated SP9T Antenna Switch
• PAM - Avago Technologies - ACPM-5201, WCDMA/HSPA 2100
• PAM - Avago Technologies - ACPM-5202, WCDMA/HSPA 1900
• PAM - Avago Technologies - ACPM-5205, WCDMA/HSPA 850

User Interface

• FPGA - SiliconBlue Technologies - iCE65L04F-TCS63I, 200K Gates, 3520 Logic Cells, 48 User I/Os, 80Kb Embedded RAM, 256MHz, 65nm
• Accelerometer - Bosch Sensortec - BMA150, MEMS 3-Axis, +-2g/4g/8g, Switchable via SPI & I2C Interfaces

Interface PCB

Memory

• Flash - Toshiba Semiconductor - THGBM2G7D4FBAI9, eMMC NAND, MLC, 16GB

BT / FM / GPS / WLAN

• Bluetooth / FM / WLAN Module - Samsung Semiconductor - SWB-B25, Contains Broadcom BCM4329EKUBG, IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n, Bluetooth V2.1+EDR, FM Tx/Rx, 65nm

User Interface

• Electronic Compass - AKM Semiconductor - AK8973B, 3-Axis, 8-Bit Digital Output, w/ Built-In 8-bit ADC & DAC

LG Quantum C900 Mobile Handset - Box Contents