Mobile & Wireless
Samsung Galaxy Tab: Nice margin if you can get it
Parts only cost £128 iso why is it no cheaper than an iPad?
By Jared Newman | PC World | Published 10:10, 03 November 10
Calling the £599 inc VAT Samsung Galaxy Tab a jumbo smartphone rather than a "true competitor" tothe Apple iPad, iSuppli calculated a $205.22 (£128) bill of materials in its Galaxy Tab teardown.
That's roughly $60 less than the iPad, mostly because of its smaller, cheaper display. While both tablets use TFT-LCD screens, the iPad's 9.7-inch display adds in-plane switching for better viewing angles, and costs $98, compared with $57 for the Galaxy Tab's 7-inch screen, iSuppli said.
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With manufacturing included, the Galaxy Tab costs $214.57 to build, according to iSuppli, but that doesn't include development costs, software, licensing, royalties or profit margins. The Samsung Galaxy Tab will cost £599 from O2 and £529 from Tesco. In the US, depending on the data contract, it costs between $400 and $600.
Strangely, iSuppli uses the opportunity in its teardown press release to rip the Galaxy Tab as merely a larger version of Samsung's Galaxy S smartphones. "While the design approach makes the Galaxy less expensive to produce than the iPad 3G, it also makes for a product that lacks the same usability," said Andrew Rassweiler, iSuppli's director, principal analyst and teardown services manager. "The Galaxy Tab's screen resolution, size and technology are not at the same level as the iPad."
The Galaxy Tab rivals the iPad on hardware. It even adds a few novel features, such as front and rear cameras and expandable storage. Its biggest challenge is software. The company is including some of its own tablet-optimised programs, but with no third-party apps designed for the 7-inch screen in the Android Market, the Galaxy Tab will feel more like a large smartphone than the iPad.
