TheSamsung Galaxy S23 Ultrais ourfavorite Android smartphoneright now. With a starting price tag of $1,200 though, the phone is on the expensive side. But then, it packs a big and bright 6.8-inch QHD+ 120Hz AMOLED panel, a fast and efficient Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 ‘for Galaxy’ chip, oodles of RAM and storage, a 200MP primary camera, a 10x periscope shooter, and more. Now, a bill of materials analysis of Samsung’s latest flagship phone has detailed just how much of that price tag accounts for the internals.
Counterpoint Research’s BoM analysis of the Galaxy S23 Ultra reveals it costs Samsung $469 to manufacture. The Snapdragon chip and its modem system are the most expensive components, accounting for 35% of the material cost. That should not come as a surprise, especially since the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 has played a key role in the Galaxy S23 lineup’s success this year. Plus, the Korean giant managed to get exclusive access to the ‘for Galaxy’ variant with higher clock speeds, which would have come at a slight premium.
Qualcomm supplied several other components to Samsung for theGalaxy S23, like the fingerprint sensor IC, Wi-Fi + Bluetooth chips, and audio codec. This is the first time the San Diego company has managed so many design wins (34%) for a Galaxy flagship. Samsung came in second with a 33% design win.
The 6.8-inch display supplied by Samsung Display is the second-most expensive component inside the S23 Ultra, accounting for 18% of the material cost. Again, this is among the best AMOLED panels you can find in a phone now, with a peak brightness of 1750 nits. So its high cost should not be surprising. The camera system, including the 200MP Samsung sensor, is the third-most expensive item, accounting for 14% of the BoM. Apart from Samsung, Sony also supplies camera sensors on the S23 Ultra.
Counterpoint’s estimates only account for the phone’s internal components and exclude manufacturing, marketing, research, and distribution costs. Once you factor them in along with Samsung’s profit, you’ll understand why the Galaxy S23 Ultra retails for $1,199.
