Nokia N8 contains $187.47 worth of parts

Just last week, we reported that iFixit had disassembled a Nokia N8 and found that it was durable and a snap to repair. Now iSuppli comes along, looks at the parts, and calculates that the Nokia N8 contains $187.47 worth of materials. The profit margin on this device appears to be high enough to make a Nokia stockholder sing out in delight as the phone is being sold for 529 EUR and $549 USD on its Finnish and U.S. web sites respectively. As a comparison, the Apple iPhone 4, as we told you back in the Summer, was broken down by iSuppli and found to be made up of $187.51 of parts. That phone retails for $748.99 unlocked on Amazon, or $199.99 subsidized through AT&T.

The most expensive component on the N8 is Samsung's 3.5 inch AMOLED display and touchscreen, which comes in at $39.25. $37.12 is spent on the unit's 16GB in mass memory and the Carl Zeiss lens equipped camera tips the scales at $31.08. The N8 is Nokia's strongest effort to date in what seems like a never ending battle to compete with the Apple. To this end, the Finnish based firm has upgraded to capacitive screens from resistive displays, and is offering a 12MP camera with this handset. Both smartphones are equipped with a front facing camera for video chats.

"Regardless of some of the extra high-end features, likethe 12-megapixel camera, the budgetary range for the end productis similar to all the other smart phones competing in the iPhonespace,” according to iSuppli analyst Andrew Wassweilwer, who continued, "One would assume Nokia, given theirpresence and market share, still has very high leverage oncomponent costs with suppliers."

The Nokia N8 debuted the new Symbian^3 OS and the manufacturer says it plans on selling 50 million units containing the software, including the N8. As far as the analysis done by iSuppli, Nokia representatives could not be reached for comment.

Nokia N8 Specifications | Review

source: Bloomberg