IHS iSuppli has completed its teardown of the new Verizon iPhone 4 and has found that it has significant changes in design and also that the Bills of Material (BOM) is $171.35. The previous iPhone 4 from AT&T launched last year had a BOM of $187.51. Apple has made a few changes that cut the cost of the new Verizon iPhone 4, including using a Qualcomm processor with integrated GPS functionality.
When manufacturing expenses are added, the total production cost for the Verizon iPhone 4 amounts to $178.45.
Apple has added a new antenna design and has integrated GPS functionality and the shrinking of the Wi-Fi/Bluetooth combo module. IHS iSuppli suggests that new design evolution keeps costs on a steady decline.
The new version employs a separate Bluetooth/WLAN antenna as opposed to the previous model that was an all-in-one antenna approach.
There is integration of semiconductor components through its use of
Qualcomm Inc.'s MDM6600 baseband/RF transceiver, replacing the Infineon
PMB9801 baseband chip used in the original universal mobile
telecommunications system (UMTS)/global system for mobile communications
(GSM) version of the smartphone. The Qualcomm part not only provides
support for the CDMA air standard required to make the iPhone 4
compatible with Verizon Wireless' 4G wireless network, it also
integrates GPS control circuitry, which was supported by a separate
chip--Broadcom Corp.'s BCM4750--in the previous version of the iPhone 4.
"By using the Qualcomm baseband chip that integrates GPS, Apple can
go without the discrete Broadcom GPS device," Rassweiler said.
In another example of optimization in the design, the Verizon iPhone 4
features a new revision of WLAN/Bluetooth module from Murata
Manufacturing Co. Ltd. The module integrates Broadcom's BCM4329
WLAN/Bluetooth/frequency modulation chip, which was in Murata's module
for the last iPhone 4 iteration.
The supplier selection for the memory and the display subsystems--the two most expensive portions of the handset--appear to remain largely unchanged from the original iPhone 4, pending verification by the IHS teardown service's continuing analysis.
At $40.40, the memory accounts for 23.6 percent of the total Verizon iPhone 4 BOM. The memory subsystem features 16GBytes of MLC NAND flash memory and 4Gbits of mobile double data rate (DDR) synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM) from Samsung Semiconductor. The subsystem also includes additional memory chips from Toshiba Corp. contained in a multichip package (MCP).
The display/touch screen module represents the next most expensive subsystem, at $37.80, or 22.1 percent of the BOM. Just as in the original version of the iPhone 4, the display of the Verizon iPhone 4 employs a low-temperature polysilicon (LTPS) liquid crystal display (LCD) that features advanced in-plane switching (IPS) technology. The module is being manufactured by multiple sources, with LG Display and Toshiba Mobile Display supplying the majority, according to Vinita Jakhanwal, director for small and medium displays at IHS.
The Verizon iPhone 4 includes two SKY77711-4 transmit modules from Skyworks Solution Inc. In the original iPhone 4 torn down by IHS iSuppli, transmit modules from TriQuint Semiconductor Inc. were identified. However, IHS believes that Apple was using both Skyworks and TriQuint as dual sources for the transmit modules in the original iPhone 4. Furthermore, IHS believes that Apple continues to use the TriQuint parts in the original version of the iPhone 4. Because of this, it may not be the design loss for TriQuint that it appears to be on the surface.