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Apple iPad 2 3G Teardown
Apple began shipping the iPad 2 at 5 p.m. at its stores and other affiliated retailers nationwide on March 11. Apple's original announcement was vague, as Apple always seems to be, about what's under the hood of their newest device, and yet, the lines stretched and turned for block, with consumers desperate to be the first to have the iPad 2. Our crack teardown team at UBM TechInsights waited in line for 12 hours in Syracuse, NY!
Fritz Nelson, Vice President, Editorial Director InformationWeek Business Technology Network
March 11, 2011
13 Slides
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According to David Carey, UBM TechInsights VP of Technical Intelligence, the team speculated the iPad 2 would "borrow heavily from the Verizon iPhone 4 (and Motorola Xoom)" using Qualcomm's multi-mode-ready radio. And it did. The processor, Carey said, matches "the nVIDIA Tegra 2 dual-core processor studied in the Motorola Xoom, so CPU costs are, we assume, comparable. We'll have a better understanding of the cost by looking at the A5's details to learn more."
Carey also added that past history will help uncover more iPad 2 details, especially regarding component costs. He said volume and standard platform usage will help keep costs competitive. "We will not know the full story until full-scale research of every component in the iPad 2 (which of course we’ll do), but given Apple's steady price-point for the iPad 2 versus its predecessor, we expect to see iPad 2 BOM cost estimates to align closely to those of the first generation iPad from its mid-2010 launch."
Motorola Xoom (32GB 3G model) Apple iPad (32GB 3G model) today's estimate Apple iPad 2(32GB 3G model) Display 10.1 inch capacitive multi-touch screen display
1280x800 pixel resolution -- 150 ppi
$55 9.7-inch capacitive multi-touch screen display
1024x768 pixel resolution -- 132ppi
$50 9.7-inch capacitive multi-touch screen display
1024x768 pixel resolution -- 132ppi
$50 Camera(s) 5 MP Camera Module
$10 No module in iPad 1280x720p camera -
~1 MP 640x480 VGA
(similar to iPod Touch)
$4.50 Main Processor nVidia Tegra 2 dual-core processor
1.0 GHz
$16 Apple A4 processor (manufactured by Samsung)
1.0 GHz
$15 Apple A5 processor
1.0 GHz
$15 - $20 Radio Components Qualcomm MDM6600
Broadcom BCM4329
Other
ICs $23 Infineon PMB8878
Infineon PMB6952
Broadcom BCM4329
Other
$22 Qualcomm MDM6600
Broadcom BCM4329
Other
$25 Flash memory Toshiba THGBM2G8D8FBAIB NAND Flash
$30 Samsung K9GBG08U0M NAND Flash
$30 Samsung/Toshiba NAND Flash
$30 Sensors (non-image) Kionix KXTF9
ST Microelectronics L3G4200D
$2.50 ST Microelectronics LIS331DLH
$1.00 6-axis motion can be from two possibilities:
ST Microelectronics LIS331DLH +
ST Microelectronics L3G4200D (similar to iPhone 4) $2.50 Other New features such as
25WH battery ~ $20-$25
Costs associated with thinner packaging, etc. Estimated Total $278 $245 $270
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