Just how much does it cost to construct a US-bound 32GB Samsung Galaxy S4? Well, since the majority of the components found within this flagship smartphone from Samsung was produced by the South Korean manufacturer themselves, research firm IHS figured out that the entire shebang would cost somewhere in the region of $237 in order to cobble together. Considering how most of the components were internally sourced and are not too far off from the Samsung Galaxy Note tablet’s innard that cost them approximately $270 per unit, it makes perfect sense to see a sub-$240 figure quoted.
IHS analyst Vincent Leung mentioned, “Samsung’s strength is this ability to in-source to itself. They just keep adding to the list of components that they can supply to themselves.” It is speculated that the international version of the phone will run on the Samsung-made Exynos 5 Octa which costs $28 per chip, while the US versions have the Qualcomm-powered Snapdragon processor that is cheaper at an estimated $20. Both the display and touchscreen are provided by Samsung and cost somewhere in the region of $75. Corning would provide the Gorilla Glass display cover, while Broadcom takes care of its Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connectivity needs.