iSuppli teardown reveals Blackberry Bold costs $170

iSuppli this week released its teardown data for the new Blackberry Bold, revealing that the $300 smartphone costs around $170 to make.

After dismantling the handset, iSuppli estimates that parts, labour and testing cost around 57% of the phone’s sale price.

iSuppli calls this a healthy margin for Blackberry maker Research in Motion (RIM).

However, the cost of the Bold is significantly higher than RIM’s previous offering, the Blackberry Curve, which cost $103 per unit.

Competing with Apple’s iPhone has forced RIM to increase the quality and usability of its smartphones.

The Bold’s Marvell processor is the most expensive component in the phone at $34.34, around 22% of the device’s total cost.

A 2.65-inch Samsung TFT display screen adds another $16 to the materials bill.

Ten gigabytes of memory adds $10.45 to manufacturing costs, whilst a 2.0 mega-pixel camera increases costs by $9.90.

Samsung and Texas Instruments (TI) provide the Bold’s integrated circuits, with TI also providing the 802.11 module in the phone.

iSuppli’s estimate for the cost of the phone excludes worldwide shipping and software development costs.

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