BlackBerry Torch carries US$171.05 BOM, says iSuppli

Research in Motion's new Torch 9800 smartphone carries a bill of materials (BOM) of US$171.05, according to research firm iSuppli.

"On the outside, the Torch delivers a rich feature set, with three user interfaces (UIs): a capacitive touch screen, an optical track pad and the first slider QWERTY keyboard found in a BlackBerry," said Andrew Rassweiler, principal analyst, teardown services manager, for iSuppli. "On the inside, the Torch's electronic design heavily leverages subsystems used in previous members of the BlackBerry smartphone line, specifically the Storm2 and the Bold 9700. With this evolutionary approach, RIM has delivered a smartphone with an enhanced feature set that largely matches those of the BlackBerry's chief competitors: the iPhone and the Android-based handsets."

Firsts and seconds

Along with the QWERTY slider keyboard, the Torch delivers a number of other firsts for the BlackBerry line, including the newly rewritten BlackBerry OS 6, as well as Social Feeds, Universal Search and a faster WebKit-based browser. The new BlackBerry smartphone also contains a GPS IC from CSR, the first time iSuppli has seen this new chip in a product teardown.

On the other hand, the Torch's RF, power amplifier and power management subsystems are similar or virtually identical to those of a previous member of the BlackBerry line, the Bold 9700. In terms of specs and size, the Torch's display is very similar to that of the BlackBerry Storm2 9550. Furthermore, the Torch employs the same MEMS accelerometer by Analog Devices used in the Storm2 9550, iSuppli noted.

The Torch also bears some similarity to smartphones from other brands. Mechanically, it is comparable in complexity and cost to the HTC Tilt 2. Likewise, the Torch integrates Texas Instruments' WL1271x WLAN/Bluetooth IC, which can be found in products including Motorola's Droid X and Microsoft's Kin 2.

Torch BOM

When adding in an estimated manufacturing cost of US$12, the Torch's combined production and BOM cost amounts to US$183.05 without taking into consideration other expenses such as software, licensing and royalties, iSuppli estimated.

Cost countdown

The most expensive subsystem in the Torch is the LCD and touch screen display module section, at a price of US$34.85, representing 20.4% of the product's BOM, according to iSuppli's semiconductor costing estimate. The display is a 3.2-inch diagonal TFT LCD with a 480 by 360 pixel resolution. While it was not possible to identify from a teardown analysis the supplier of the display, RIM in the past has employed displays from Samsung Mobile Display, Toshiba Mobile Display and Sharp. The touch screen uses capacitive technology and includes a Synaptics controller IC. And although the supplier of an entire module is rarely identifiable from a teardown analysis, the controller IC indicates that Synaptics is a potential supplier of the turnkey solution.

Coming in at a close second in terms of cost is the memory subsystem, at US$34.25, amounting to 20% of the BOM. In the individual Torch torn down by iSuppli, Samsung supplied a 4GB eMMC NAND flash memory device, plus an 8Gb NAND flash and 4Gb Mobile Double Data Rate (DDR) SDRAM. SanDisk contributed a 4GB removable micro SD memory card.

The mechanical/electromechanical portions of the Torch, including the PCBs and the enclosure plastics and metals, came in third at an estimated cost of US$23.35, representing 13.7% of the Torch's BOM.

Marvell, Infineon, Renesas light up the Torch

Next on the cost ranking is the applications processor/baseband section at US$15, or 8.8% of the BOM. This section is dominated by the communications processor, which features an integrated baseband from Marvell Technology.

Coming in at fifth in terms of cost is the RF transceiver and power amplifier section, at US$13.90, or 8.1% of the BOM cost. Infineon Technologies' PMB5701 tri-band RF transceiver is featured in the section, along with Renesas Electronics' R2A60177BG quad-band RF transceiver and its RPF59001B power amplifier module.

User interface chips

The user interface electronics subsection comes in sixth, at US$12.40, or 7.2% of the BOM. This section includes STMicroelectronics NV's STV0987 video/image processor that supports mobile imaging. It also features Texas Instruments' TLV320AIC36IZQERaudio codec, CrucialTec's optical trackpad assembly and Analog Devices' 3-axis accelerometer.

Other notable sections include the Bluetooth/WLAN/GPS area, with a price of US$10.60 and 6.2% share. Components in this subsystem include the Texas Instruments WL1271A single-chip Bluetooth/WLAN/FM transmitter/receiver and the CSR GSD4t-9800 GPS receiver.

Finally, there's the power management section, at US$4.90, or 2.9% of the BOM. This subsystem includes the Texas Instruments TPS65856 power management IC.