HTC Desire Mobile Handset Teardown

Overview / Main Features

HTC's Desire is, for all intents and purposes, a "generic-ized version of the Nexus One Android smartphone which the OEM contract manufactures for Google. In fact, underneath the plastic exterior, the resemblance between the Nexus One and Desire is uncanny. Both have an identical main PCB design and layout (with exception of the Audience IC and an addition UMTS frequency PAM found in the Nexus One). The HTC Desire is essentially, the Nexus One handset HTC would have produce if it had not made a customized version for Google. Gone are some of the premium features like aluminum unibody assembly and AMOLED display but instead, HTC used the Desire to showcase their own customized UI overlay they've coined ""HTC Sense UI" and an improved optical pointing device. In fact, HTC uses the ""Desire" moniker in other private label designs such as the Desire Z (HTC version of the G2 for T-Mobile) and Desire HD (HTC's version of the EVO for Sprint).

The dual-band UMTS and quad-band GSM touchscreen smartphone features a 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon baseband processor - a design that has captivated much of the smartphone designs in 2010 and features the Android 2.1 OS platform. Just as the Nexus One, the Desire has an identical 5MP autofocus camera module. Also, just as the Nexus One, the HTC Desire has an integrated 3.7 inch capacitive touch overlay module (glass plus microcontroller) provided by Synaptics.

HTC Desire Mobile Handset Main Image

High end smartphones

Released

Feb 2010

HTC Desire Mobile Handset - Main PCB Top

Pricing - The HTC Desire is available unsubsidized from various online retails for approximately $480. Outside of the US, where the handset is specifically targeted, the device is likely be subsidized heavily (if not offered for free) along with a service contract.

Availability - Europe and Asia

Volume Estimations

For the purposes of this teardown analysis, we have applied a lifetime production volume of approximately 1.5M 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.

HTC Desire Mobile Handset - Main PCB Bottom

Main Cost Drivers ~80of Total Materials Cost

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

Display Module Value Line Item - 3.7' Diagonal, 16.7M Color TFT, 480x800 Pixels

Samsung Semiconductor - KA1000015M-AJTT - MCP - 4Gb NAND Flash + 4Gb Mobile DDR

Touchscreen Assembly - 3.7' Diagonal, Capacitive, Contains Synaptics T1007A Touchscreen Controller, w/ Flex PCB & Board-to-Board Connector

Camera Module Value Line Item - 5.1MP CMOS, 1/3.2' Format, Auto Focus Lens

Bluetooth/FM/WLAN Module Value Line Item - WLAN IEEE802.11a/b/g/n, Bluetooth V2.1+EDR, w/ FM Radio Transceiver

Sandisk - MicroSD Memory Card - 4GB

Panasonic - 10-Layer - FR4/RCF, Stacked Via (ALIVH), Lead-Free

BB99100 - Battery - Li-Ion, 3.7V, 1400mAh

79H00098-02M - Charger - AC to USB, 5V, 1A

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

Qualcomm - RTR6285 - RF Transceiver - ZIF, Quad-Band GSM/EDGE, Tri-Band WCDMA/HSDPA Transceiver w/ Receive Diversity, Integrated GPS Receiver

5-Layer - Rigid/Flex Hybrid, FR4/Kapton, 1+3+1, Lead-Free

Handsfree Accessory - Stereo, Earphone / Microphone, w/ 3 Handsfree Control Buttons, Spring Loaded Plastic Clip

Skyworks - SKY77336-21 - PAM - Quad Band GSM / EDGE

Texas Instruments - TPS65023A - Power Management IC - 3x Step-Down DC-DC Converters, 2x 200 mA LDOs

Optical Trackpad PCB Assembly Value Line Item

Direct Materials + Manufacturing $149.64

HTC Desire 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 the level of sophistication and function of the device, we made the assumption that the unit was assembled in Taiwan. Furthermore, we have assumed that custom mechanicals (plastics, metals, etc.) were also sourced in Taiwan.

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.

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.

HTC Desire Mobile Handset - Disassembly View 1

Design for Manufacturing / Device Complexity

The HTC Desire has an overall component count of 1039 (excluding box contents), of which, 695 reside on the main PCB. HTC handsets tend to top the extreme end of our complexity metric due to their heavy use of discrete passive components and multiple PCB assembly.

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 Taiwan.

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

As with other Qualcomm baseband designs, the core components in the HTC Desire revolves around mostly Qualcomm components. Along with the QSD8250 baseband processor, the Desire also have Qualcomm's RTR6285 RF transceiver as well as PM7540 power management IC.

Like the Nexus One, the Desire also have an identical Samsung MCP package featuring 4Gb of mobile DDR - which remains the gold standard of mobile RAM to this day (after nearly a year after its introduction on the Nexus One). Having an abundance of mobile DDR allows smartphone devices to handle multiple applications and large data sets, ultimately, improving the user experience.

Here is a summary of the major components used in the HTC Desire Handset design:

Display

• Display Module - 3.7' Diagonal, 16.7M Color TFT, 480x800 Pixels

Main PCB

Apps Processing / Baseband

• Baseband Processor - Qualcomm - QSD8250

Memory

• MCP - Samsung Semiconductor - KA1000015M-AJTT, 4Gb NAND Flash + 4Gb Mobile DDR

Power Management

• Power Management IC - Qualcomm - PM7540
• Power Management IC - Texas Instruments - TPS65023A
• Audio Power Amplifier - Texas Instruments - TPA4411YZH

RF / PA

• RF Transceiver - Qualcomm - RTR6285
• PAM - Skyworks - SKY77336-21, Quad Band GSM / EDGE
• PAM - Avago Technologies - ACPM-5401, WCDMA/HSDPA 2100, 1920-1980MHz
• PAM - Avago Technologies - ACPM-5408, WCDMA/HSDPA 900, 880-915MHz

User Interface

• Microcontroller - Atmel - ATmega88V-10MU
• Electronic Compass - AKM Semiconductor -AK8973S
• Accelerometer - Bosch Sensortec - BMA150

HTC Desire Mobile Handset - Box Contents