Research company IHS took the latest Samsung Galaxy S5 flagship apart in order to check out its bill of material (BOM), or simply, learn how much it actually costs, hardware wise. The new Galaxy S5 is the priciest Galaxy S smartphone so far with a BOM price of US $256.


While the Samsung Galaxy S4 BOM was set at around US $244 back in 2013, and while most smartphones usually stick with below US $200 BOM price, Samsung did not spare expense on the new Galaxy S5 and US $256 BOM price shows it.

The most expensive part of the Galaxy S5 is its 5.1-inch Full HD Super AMOLED screen which costs US $63 and is actually US $12 cheaper than the 5-inch one in the Galaxy S4. The lower price is most likely a result of streamlined display production. The DRAM and flash memory in the Galaxy S5 add US $33 to the price. The rest of the price list includes US $4 fingerprint sensor, which is quite surprising considering that the one it the iPhone 5s costs US $15. The heart rate sensor costs US $1.45 while the cost of assembly is at US $5 per device.

Of course, bear in mind that BOM price does not include R&D, software development, distribution and those incredibly high marketing costs.



Source: IHS.com, via GSMArena.com.