Mar 01
From the Wired Gadget Lab comes an interesting story on the A4 chip. Wired claims that the chip is a SOC with the following components:
Here is a quote regarding PA Semi’s role in the chip development:
If the A4 SOC’s parts were outsourced, the role of PA Semi, a semiconductor manufacturer that Apple acquired in April 2008, remains unclear. Stokes speculates that the PA Semi team may have helped optimize the A4 to extend battery life for the iPad, which Apple claims will last 10 hours with active usage and one month on standby.
Read more at the Wired’s site here.
Tagged with: a4 1ghz chip • A4 Processor • A8 • apple a4 chip • apple a4 cpu • ARM • ARM’s Cortex A8 Processor • Cortex • Cortex A8 • Graphic Processing Unit • Imagination Technologies • PA Semi • pasemi • PoverVR SGX GPU • PowerVR SGX GPU
Feb 10
iSupply just posted a virtual teardown manufacturing cost numbers for all models – I’ve shuffled the numbers a bit bit it seems that Apple has a hefty margin on each model (50%+) and I would not be surprised if we were to see big price drops within first three months after the release. If I had to predict I’d probably say that we will be seeing a $100 to $150 price drop as sometimes in June. Needless to say – the most expensive element of the system is the screen, followed by memory and 3G components. Take a look at the table below and hit the comments sections…
|
16GB without 3G |
16GB with 3G |
32GB without 3G |
32GB with 3G |
64GB without 3G |
64GB with 3G |
| Core Components |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Display and Touchscreen |
$80 |
$80 |
$80 |
$80 |
$80 |
$80 |
| Electromechanical and Mechanical |
$35 |
$35 |
$35 |
$35 |
$35 |
$35 |
| Battery (1) |
$18 |
$18 |
$18 |
$18 |
$18 |
$18 |
| MPU and Memory |
$29 |
$29 |
$29 |
$29 |
$29 |
$29 |
| ——- A4 Processor (2) |
$17 |
$17 |
$17 |
$17 |
$17 |
$17 |
| ——- Supporting DRAM (3) |
$12 |
$12 |
$12 |
$12 |
$12 |
$12 |
| WLAN n+BT+FM (4) |
$8 |
$8 |
$8 |
$8 |
$8 |
$8 |
| User Interface Components (5) |
$10 |
$10 |
$10 |
$10 |
$10 |
$10 |
| Other Power Management Components |
$2 |
$2 |
$2 |
$2 |
$2 |
$2 |
| Configuration-Dependent Components |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| NAND Flash |
$30 |
$30 |
$59 |
$59 |
$118 |
$118 |
| Wireless (6) |
|
$25 |
|
$25 |
|
$25 |
| GPS |
|
$3 |
|
$3 |
|
$3 |
| Other Costs |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Box Contents |
$8 |
$8 |
$8 |
$8 |
$8 |
$8 |
| Totals |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Total materials Cost |
$219 |
$246 |
$249 |
$276 |
$308 |
$335 |
| Total manufacturing Costs |
$10 |
$11 |
$10 |
$11 |
$10 |
$11 |
| Grand Total (Cost to Apple) |
$229 |
$258 |
$259 |
$287 |
$318 |
$346 |
| Retail Price |
$499 |
$629 |
$599 |
$729 |
$699 |
$829 |
| Retail – Cost |
$270 |
$371 |
$340 |
$442 |
$381 |
$483 |
| Retail – Cost as a percentage of price |
54% |
59% |
57% |
61% |
55% |
58% |
- (1) Li Ion Polymer 25W
- (2) ARM Core with GPU Integrated SoC (iSupply assumes this)
- (3) 4GB (512MB, PoP)
- (4) Single chip solution
- (5) Accelerometer, Compass – assumed present in all configurations
- (6) Baseband, RF, PA, etc.
Tagged with: A4 Processor • Battery • Box Contents • component cost • components • Configuration-Dependent Components • Core Components • Display and Touchscreen • Electromechanical and Mechanical • gps • isuppli • manufacturing cost • MPU and Memory • NAND Flash • Other Costs • Other Power Management Components • Supporting DRAM • teardown • User Interface Components • Wireless • WLAN n+BT+FM
