A teardown of the Samsung Galaxy S6 edge has revealed that the total bill of materials, or the total cost of its parts and assembly, is more expensive than even the most expensive iPhone 6 model.
IHS, the market research firm that’s famous for its accurate estimates of the bill of materials via its teardowns, estimates that the Galaxy S6 edge costs $290 (about RM1,070) to build. This is $34 (about RM125) higher than the Galaxy S5, which cost Samsung $256 to build one unit. On the other hand, the most expensive iPhone 6 Plus model with 128GB of storage – retailing for RM3,974 – costs just $263 (about RM970) to manufacture.
The increase in price for the Galaxy S6 edge’s bill of materials is naturally explained by the use of premium materials such as a metal frame and Gorilla Glass 4 on the front and back of the device. Also, there’s the inclusion of the dual-curved screen with a 2K resolution, which combined with the touch sensor costs Samsung $85 (about RM315) per unit – a third of the total cost per unit. In comparison, the second-most expensive part on the S6 edge is the 14nm Exynos 7 processor, which IHS estimated to cost $29.50 (about RM110).
The other parts that make up the device are fairly par for the course. The new DDR4 memory chip costs an estimated $27, while the new UFS 2.0 storage is estimated to cost $25. Both these parts, including the Exynos chipset, are all manufactured by Samsung’s other manufacturing divisions. Of course, the $290 figure covers only the bill of materials, and does not include costs incurred for research and development (R&D), shipment and other retailer-level costs.
The Samsung Galaxy S6 will be available in Malaysia from 17 April, and will retail for RM3,099.
