eWEEK content and product recommendations are editorially independent. We may make money when you click on links to our partners. Learn More.
The HTC Droid Incredible has a BOM (bill of materials) that tallies $163.35, iSuppli announced July 29, following a teardown of the smartphone. Add nearly $9 in manufacturing costs, and that figure rises to $172.25-for a device Verizon sells for $199 with a two-year contract.
Perhaps more striking, however, are the similarities that the firm’s analysis service found between the Droid Incredible and Google’s Nexus One, also made by HTC.
“The Droid Incredible could have been dubbed the ‘Nexus Two,’ given its similarity to HTC’s Nexus One introduced early this year,” Andrew Rassweiler, principal analyst and teardown services manager for iSuppli, said in a statement. “Indeed, the phones are very similar in terms of costs and features, with the main difference being the Incredible’s support for the CDMA air standard used by carrier Verizon in the United States.”
Google offers the Nexus One-which has an iSuppli-estimated BOM of $174.15-unlocked for $529 or with a two-year T-Mobile service contract for $179.
Both phones run Google’s Android operating system, both feature-as their “centerpiece,” writes iSuppli-a 3.7-inch AMOLED display and both have an electronic design based around Qualcomm’s 1GHz Snapdragon processor. iSuppli adds that both also integrate a “class-leading density, at 4Gbit, of Mobile DDR (Double Data Rate) DRAM to support the processor.”
As for differences, the Droid Incredible features HTC’s Sense user interface, while the Nexus One is straight-up Android. Also, the Incredible features an optical trackpad to the Nexus One’s trackball.
As for the Incredible’s BOM, topping the list is that Qualcomm processor-which features dual-mode HSPA/CDMA 1xEVDO Rev. A, with WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS, 3D graphics and mobile broadcast TV, iSuppli adds-for $31.40. In a close second place is the Samsung-provided display, at $31.20, and “memory section,” at $29.80.
“In the individual Incredible phone unit torn down by iSuppli, this section consists of NAND flash memory and mobile [DDR] DRAM from Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. and more NAND from Hynix Semiconductor Inc.,” stated the report. “However, iSuppli believes that HTC is likely using additional sources of supply for these commodity memory parts.”
Also contributing to (or benefiting from) the Droid Incredible are Broadcom, Texas Instruments and Atmel, writes iSuppli. Broadcom, at a rate of $8.45 a unit, contributes a chip that combines Bluetooth, FM and WLAN support. From Texas Instruments and Qualcomm, the Incredible gets power-management components, for $7.25, while Atmel, for $5.55, kicks in the touch screen, which is paired with an AKM Semiconductor compass and a Bosch Sensortec accelerometer.
The Incredible’s 8-megapixel camera comes at a cost to HTC of $15.70 a unit.
With the launch of the Incredible, which began selling in late April, analysts have said that HTC solidified its standing as a major U.S. smartphone brand-a feat partially accomplished through its embrace of Google’s Android. Verizon has since faced a shortage of Incredible handsets, as several of the manufacturers listed above have struggled to meet demand. Verizon executives, however, during a conference call with analysts and media to discuss the carrier’s second-quarter earnings, downplayed the shortages as “more timing than anything else” and “just a little delay.”
iSuppli noted that its BOM tallies do not take into account expenses such as software, licensing and royalties.