Samsung’s premium handset, the Galaxy S23 Ultra, was launched in February this year. Powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 SoC, this high-end Android phone’s price starts at $1199 for the base 8GB RAM + 256GB storage variant. However, a recent bill of materials (BoM) analysis indicates that the cost of the phone’s components is less than 40 percent of its retail value.
Galaxy S23 Ultra: Profitable Price Point
Research firm Counterpoint has conducted a BoM analysis revealing that the manufacturing cost for the 8GB RAM + 256GB storage variant of the Galaxy S23 Ultra is $469. This suggests that Samsung is generating a fair profit margin from its premium phone. Interestingly, the processor and cellular components make up 34 percent of this cost.
Qualcomm’s Crucial Role
Notably, Qualcomm has a significant role in the S23 Ultra’s hardware. The phone uses Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Mobile Platform. Additionally, Qualcomm has designed key components such as the fingerprint sensor IC, power management ICs, audio codec, RF power amplifiers, Wi-Fi + Bluetooth, GPS, and Sub-6GHz transceiver. Counterpoint notes that Qualcomm’s share in the handset is at an ‘all-time high’.
Display and Camera: Major Contributors to BoM
The display (18 percent) and the “others” category (15 percent) also make up a substantial part of the BoM. The camera contributes 14 percent to the total BoM cost of the Galaxy S23 Ultra, followed by memory (11 percent) and casing (8 percent).
Samsung and Sony’s In-house Contributions
The second-largest beneficiary of the Galaxy S23 Ultra’s sales is Samsung itself. Various Samsung units supply crucial components such as the 256GB NAND flash and the 6.8-inch AMOLED display. Within the camera subsystem, Samsung (SEMCO) and Sony hold a significant share. Samsung provides the 200-megapixel wide-angle camera (S5KHP2) and 12-megapixel selfie camera (S5K3LU), while Sony supplies the 12-megapixel ultrawide (IMX564) sensor and 10-megapixel telephoto and periscope telephoto (IMX754) sensors.
Other Component Suppliers
Other suppliers also play an integral role in the Galaxy S23 Ultra’s construction. Silicon Mitus and Maxim supply the power management ICs, while STM designs the laser autofocus module, accelerometer, gyroscope, barometer, and touch panel controller. The battery is packaged by Samsung with the cell provided by ATL. NXP provides the quick charging IC, and Convenient contributes the 15W wireless charging IC.
