Cost of T-Mobile G1 with Google Cheaper than iPhone

By Contributor Wireless and Mobile News on November 12, 2008 1:34 PM

The T-Mobile G1 smartphone with Google has a Bill-of-Materials (BOM) cost of $143.89, according to a virtual teardown conducted by iSuppli Corp which is cheaper than the iPhone 3G with a cost of about $160.00

The estimate includes only the component and material costs for the G1, and doesn't account for other expenses including software, research and development, manufacturing and accessories. iSuppli hasn't yet conducted an actual physical teardown of the G1.

The most costly segment of the G1 is the baseband, at $28.49, or 19.8 percent of the G1's total BOM.

The next most costly section of the G1 is the display, at $19.67, or 13.7 percent of the BOM. The G1's display is a 3.2-inch TFT-LCD flat touch-sensitive screen with HVGA resolution, at 320 by 480 pixels. The display uses projective touch-screen technology.

The camera represents the next most expensive segment, at $12.13, or 8.4 percent of total BOM costs. The camera has a 3 megapixel resolution and an autofocus feature.

The fourth most expensive segment is the Radio Frequency (RF)/Power Amplifier (PA) portion, which costs $9.84, representing 6.8 percent of the total BOM. This section supports a high-speed 3.5G network connection using the HSDPA air standard.