Phone
Qualcomm Inc.s Snapdragon chip, which runs the phones software, probably costs $30.50, making it the most expensive part in the device and accounting for 18 percent of the total, the research firm said yesterday in a preliminary analysis.
The Nexus One, which uses Googles Android operating system and has a larger screen than its Apple Inc. rival, retails for $179 with a two-year T-Mobile USA contract and $529 without it. Mountain View, California-based Google designed the device with HTC Corp. of Taiwan. It also has a compass, satellite navigation and a one-piece enclosure, known as unibody construction.
Components including a unibody and Snapdragon chip have been used in other smartphones “but never before combined into a single design,” said Kevin Keller, senior analyst at El Segundo, California-based ISuppli. “This gives the Nexus One the most advanced features of any smartphone” broken down and analyzed by the firm, he said.
The phones 3.7-inch display screen is supplied by Samsung Mobile Display Co. and has an estimated cost of $23.70, ISuppli said. Samsung Semiconductor Inc. provided all the memory in the phone, contributing $20.40, or 11.7 percent, of the total component cost, ISuppli said.
Motorola Inc.s Droid phone, which also operates on Googles Android software, has components costing about $185, ISuppli said. The phone, released in November, sells for $199 with a two-year Verizon Wireless contract. Best Buy offers it without a service contract for $599.
Katie Watson, a spokeswoman for Google, and Juli Burda, a spokeswoman for Motorola, declined to comment on the ISuppli report.
Google gained $7.92 to $602.02 yesterday in Nasdaq Stock Market trading. Motorola fell 37 cents to $7.76 on the New York Stock Exchange.