Achim Maier
The Bill of Materials (BoM) for the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra is just $469, according to Counterpoint’s latest study. That’s for a device with 8GB of RAM, 256GB of storage, and sub-6GHz 5G. The bill of materials for the 2022 model is unknown, but a Galaxy S21 Ultra (Snapdragon 888, 128GB, mmWave) cost $533 in production. A year earlier, the Galaxy Note20 Ultra (Snapdragon 865+, 128GB, mmWave) cost $550 in materials.
Qualcomm’s share of the bill of materials is at an all-time high at 34%, and is even one percentage point higher than Samsung itself. A big part of that is of course the chipset, as well as the various components that make up the wireless connections. But Qualcomm also supplies the Galaxy S23 series’ ultrasonic fingerprint sensor, as well as audio electronics and power management chips.
The most expensive components are the custom Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy chipset and the cellular connectivity parts. The display and camera also consume a large part of the budget. But together they cost less than the chipset and cellular components. Accordingly, you can imagine why Samsung wants to produce its own Exynos chipsets again as quickly as possible.
Display, storage, battery and cameras from Samsung
Samsung supplies the LTPO display, NAND flash memory, and single-cell battery pack from ATL. Also, two of the five cameras are South Korean – the 200-megapixel HP2 sensor under the main camera and the S5K3LU chip under the 12-megapixel selfie cam. The two 10 megapixel IMX754 sensors for the telephoto and periscope cameras and the IMX564 for the ultra-wide camera come from Sony.
A few other companies are also on board. STM supplies the laser autofocus module and touch panel controller, as well as various sensors (accelerometer, gyroscope, barometer). NXP developed the wired charging chip while Practical Power supplies the wireless charging chip.
The list of materials does not include other costs such as research and development, marketing, the warranty and after-sales service. Also, Samsung sells Galaxy S23 Ultra versions with 12GB RAM and some mmWave in most regions, increasing the price.
