According to IHS Markit, the new Samsung Galaxy S8, with 64GB of NAND flash memory, has a material cost of $301.60. This is much higher than for previous versions of the company’s smartphones and does not include the extra $5.90 for manufacturing costs. The preliminary estimated total is $43.34 higher than that of the Galaxy S7, and is $36.29 higher than the total build cost of the Galaxy S7 Edge. The full price for a 64GB Galaxy S8 starts at around $720.
Andrew Rassweiler, senior director of cost benchmarking services for IHS Markit, said that the higher total materials costs for the Galaxy S8 seem to be part of a trend that reflects a race with Apple and other phone manufacturers, to include more features. He went on to say that there are also new non-hardware features in the Galaxy S8, such as a virtual assistant called Bixby (although there has been a delay to this – Man. Ed. Samsung Delays Bixby Voice), and the new iPhone is expected to also have new non-hardware features.
The Galaxy S8 has a tall, narrow shape that is 1.5 mm narrower than the previous Galaxy S7, optimising screen real estate. The screen curves around the edges, and Samsung designers have maximised the display, relative to the size of the phone, with a 5.8” 2960×1440 AMOLED display and an elongated aspect ratio of 18.5:9. Rather than the conventional 16:9 aspect ratio. The phone features an additional 15% more pixels in a form factor that is easier to hold in the hand.
Both the Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus feature a 10nm system-on-chip along with CAT-16 LTE modem and radio. The CDMA version of the S8, intended for use in the US and China, will feature the Snapdragon 835 chipset from San Diego-based Qualcomm. In comparison, a version of the phone featuring Samsung’s homegrown Exynos 8895 chipset will be used for the rest of the world.
Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus
