IHS iSuppli have performed their traditional tear down of the Nokia Lumia 900 and found Nokia and the lower hardware requirements of Windows Phone 7 has managed to keep costs low at only $209 for the bill of material.
Saying the device was a showcase of how efficient Windows Phone 7 was, iSuppli analyst Andrew Rassweiler said it seemed to be aimed at enticing other hardware manufacturers by demonstrating that a full-featured smartphone can be built using components that are about a generation behind and cheaper the current high end.
The tear down revealed the processor was only $17, vs $22 for a dual core processor commonly used in Android handsets, and that the device only used 512 MB RAM vs the 1 GB commonly found in Android handsets. The phone also used an older, cheaper bluetooth chip, which saved $2.50 vs the newer ones found in Android handsets.
“It appears what Microsoft and Qualcomm and Nokia are trying to do here — and this is being driven by Microsoft more than anyone else — is streamline the OS so it can run on a lighter processing platform,” Rassweiler told me. “The point being is to undercut the higher end phones.”
In July 2011 the HTC Thunderbolt, on Verizon, has a BOM of $262. The Samsung Galaxy Skyrocket LTE on AT&T has a BOM of $235. The 16 GB iPhone 4S however costs $188, but of course does not have LTE.
iSuppli also suggested Microsoft was giving Nokia a deal on the Windows Phone OS itself, saying they believed Nokia was only paying $5, rather than $15, for the software not far of the $3 licensing costs for Symbian.
Via AllthingsD.com
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