The Bill of Materials (BoM) for the base Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra is just $469, according to In counterpoint latest searches. This is for a unit with 8GB of RAM, 256GB of storage, and sub-6GHz 5G. The BoM for the 2022 model is unknown, but an S21 Ultra (Snapdragon 888, 128GB, mmWave) was $533 and before that the Galaxy Note20 Ultra (Snapdragon 865+, 128GB, mmWave) cost $550.
Qualcomm’s share of the BoM is at an “all-time high” at 34%, one percentage point higher than Samsung’s. A lot of that is the chipset, of course, as well as the various components for wireless connectivity, but Qualcomm also designs the ultrasonic fingerprint readers featured in the S23 series, as well as the audio electronics and power management ICs.
Qualcomm and Samsung take the lion’s share of the BoM of the Galaxy S23 Ultra
The most expensive components are the Galaxy Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 custom chipset and cellular connectivity parts. The display and camera also eat up a big chunk of the budget, but combined they’re less than the chipset + cellular parts.
Samsung supplies the LTPO display, NAND flash and battery pack (with one ATL cell), as well as two of the five cameras: the 200MP HP2 sensor and the 12MP selfie camera (S5K3LU). The two 10 MP IMX754 sensors for the telephoto and periscope cameras and the IMX564 for the ultra wide angle are supplied by Sony.
The chipset and cellular connectivity are by far the most expensive components of the S23 Ultra
You can see why Samsung has held on to Exynos for so long: a Samsung-designed and manufactured chipset with a Samsung modem. The graph above would look very different if the internal chip were competitive.
However, some other companies take their share. STM makes the laser AF module and touch panel controller, as well as various sensors (accelerometer, gyroscope, barometer). NXP made the wired charging IC, Convenient Power made the wireless charging IC.
Please note that the BOM does not include other costs such as R&D, marketing shipment, warranty and customer service, and so on. Also, most regions get versions with 12GB of RAM, some also include mmWave connectivity, those variants will be more expensive.
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