Date: 20/03/2011

13% fall in cost of parts used in smartphone

In-Stat has reported the cost of the key electronic components LCD display and baseband/processor chip used in smartphone have dropped in price sharply in 2010 due to increased volumes and from an increasing share of lower-cost smartphones. Overall the smartphone BOM decreased nearly 13% in 2010 over 2009, says In-Stat.

"For many smartphones, GPS, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi (and sometimes FM radio) have been integrated into one chip," says Allen Nogee, Principal Analyst. "This has reduced the cost of all three components. The share in open-source software took a jump this year, which also helped reduce the cost of software and licensing."

Recent In-Stat research found:
More than half of US handset shipments will be smartphones by 2012.
The smartphone OS war is heating up, as relatively new or renewed entrants such as MeeGo, Bada, WebOS, and others join a very crowded market.
By 2015, over two thirds of smartphones will still be WCDMA-based. LTE smartphones will comprise only a small minority of annual handset shipments, even in 2015.
The display and baseband/apps processor are the two high cost items in the bill of materials. Other significant items include memory, camera, software and licensing, and case and manufacturing.