10/01, 2:20pm
Win Mobile usage to triple by 2013
In spite of common perception, Windows Mobile could take second place in the smartphone market in as little as four years, an iSuppli study predicted today. Analysts estimate that the phones shipped will triple from 27.7 million by the end of this year to 67.9 million in 2013, or enough to give it 15.3 percent of the industry behind Nokia's predicted 47.6 percent. Microsoft is expected to slip to third this year but to recover over time.
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08/12, 9:10pm
iPhone killer drive market
Displays commonly used in smart phones are facing increased sales following the upcoming release of so-called "iPhone killer" devices. According to iSuppli, worldwide shipments of displays ranging in size from 2.5-inches to 4.9-inches diagonally that feature QVGA quality pixel formating are projected to rise to 150 million units, and increase of 22 percent from 123 million units last year. These projections also indicate overall shipments of mobile displays will decrease by 11 percent this year.
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08/05, 5:40pm
iPhone and Flash Mem Spike
Apple's voracious use of NAND flash memory for iPhones could be the key spark in the entire industry over the next few years, iSuppli said today in a new study. The smartphone's existence is estimated to help multiply revenue in the business by 5.6 times from its 2008 numbers to $932.5 million by 2013. Much of this comes from Apple's insistence on stepping up the amount of memory with each upgrade. By pushing the capacity of the iPhone up by four from 8GB to 32GB, the company not only demands more memory itself but is indirectly pushing up the amount of memory others need to carry to remain competitive.
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07/14, 3:00pm
PC Biz to Drop in 2009
Sales of computers are poised to drop for the first time since the original technology crash of 2001, iSuppli said in a study today. The research team had originally thought shipments would grow a very slight 0.7 percent in spite of the economic crash but are now set to drop 4 percent year-over-year to 287.3 million computers in 2009. The decline isn't as severe as the 2001 drop, which shrank the market by 5.1 percent, but is seen as more significant as it doesn't come on the back of "inflated" spending, as it did eight years earlier.
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07/09, 11:05am
SSD Notebooks Hurt
The economic crunch is making a major impact on the viability of solid-state drives in notebooks, according to new research from iSuppli. As prices for the NAND flash memory that form the heart of these drives have in some cases more than doubled -- 128 percent for a 2GB chip -- the costs for the SSDs themselves have gone up proportionately, making it difficult or occasionally impossible to offer an SSD option in a given notebook. The jump is the result of a known shortage triggered by the economy, as companies producing memory deliberately cut production to raise prices and save money.
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06/24, 7:40am
iPhone 3GS iSuppli Costs
Apple's newest iPhone actually costs slightly more to make than the older version in spite of the more modest update, iSuppli says. The iPhone 3GS' total bill of materials amounts to $178.96 for a 16GB model, or slightly more than the previous $174.33 of the 8GB iPhone 3G. Some of the cost difference is attributed to recent rises in the prices of NAND flash memory; although 16GB costs less to make than it did a year earlier, a small rebound due to economy-driven supply cutbacks means Apple has had to absorb some costs to double its storage.
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06/10, 11:15am
Palm Pre Final Cost Study
The Palm Pre may cost significantly more to make than first anticipated and has surprising similarity to the iPhone's supply chain as it's existed in the past, according to a post-launch cost breakdown by iSuppli. Originally thought to cost $138 in raw manufacturing and parts, the smartphone is now estimated to cost at least $140 and as much as $160. Much of the price is attached to the 3.1-inch Sony multi-touch LCD, which with its Cypress controller costs about $40.60.
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05/01, 4:00pm
iSuppli on Netbook Cooloff
Despite currently strong interest, the netbook industry is likely to cool off sharply in as little as a year, an iSuppli estimate said today. The research predicts that netbook shipments are likely to surge 68.5 percent in 2009 versus the year earlier but that this growth rate will be cut almost in half to 39.6 percent in 2010 and by two thirds to 13.1 percent in 2013. The growth will still be relatively strong as each figure builds on the earlier year's numbers, according to principal PC analyst Matthew Wilkins, but shows the rapid expansion of 2008 quickly tapering off.
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04/29, 8:10am
Palm Pre Cost Breakdown
The Palm Pre will cost substantially less to build than the iPhone 3G did when it was new, according to a pre-launch cost breakdown by iSuppli. While the company doesn't have full access to the parts Palm is using, its estimates put the pure cost of assembling the first webOS phone at $138. The multi-touch screen is expected to be the most expensive part at $39.51, while the phone's Texas Instruments OMAP processor -- touted as significantly faster than the iPhone's Samsung chip -- costs just $11.
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04/22, 3:20pm
Kindle 2 Cost Breakdown
An iSuppli cost breakdown today of Amazon's Kindle 2 reveals that the e-book reader ultimately costs a relatively small amount more to build than an iPhone, or roughly half the actual $359 price. Where an iPhone 3G cost $174.33 to make when new, the Kindle 2 costs $185.49 after factoring in both the raw parts as well as assembly. The most expensive component is E-Ink's 6-inch digital paper display, which by itself costs $60; the screen is needed both to provide a natural feel but to let users read even when the unit is otherwise powered down.
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11/11, 12:20pm
T-Mobile G1 Cost Teardown
T-Mobile's G1 phone costs the carrier and its build partner HTC significantly less to make than its Apple rival, researchers at iSuppli conclude. The firm estimates that the raw material cost of a G1 amounts to $143.89 and that the single largest cost is the $28.49 baseband hardware, which represents both the main CPU as well as the cellular link. The 3.2-inch touchscreen is next at $19.67 while the camera ($12.13) and the RF/power amp for the 3G connection ($9.84) stand at third and fourth place respectively.
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07/15, 7:40pm
iPhone 3G geared for gains
Despite the iPhone 3G's more modern wireless communication standards, arguably thinner design, and inclusion of GPS, its overall cost of manufacture has dropped just over $50, according to iSuppli. The company's Teardown Analysis Service reveals that the device is geared towards cutting costs, while increasing worldwide presence, rather than simply filling the iPhone with the latest and greatest. The iPhone 3G is assessed at $174.33, almost exactly the predicted $173 issued in June.
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06/27, 4:10pm
Global PC shipments
Despite tough overall economic conditions, the market for personal computers remained strong in the first quarter of 2008 according to iSuppli. Global PC unit shipments rose to 69.9 million units in the first quarter, up 12.1 percent from 62.4 million in the first quarter of 2007. Hewlett-Packard Co., Dell Inc. and Acer Inc. retained the top-three rankings with no change from the previous quarter. HP boosted first-quarter global PC shipments by 23 percent over the same quarter in 2007, to reach 13.2 million units. Dell in the first quarter of 2008 expanded its market share position by half a percentage point compared to the fourth quarter of 2007, at 15.4 percent, with worldwide shipments of 10.8 million units.
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04/07, 10:45am
iSuppli Flash Order Drop
iSuppli today said it predicts a major drop in orders for NAND flash memory largely due to Apple. While the research group originally expected the value of orders to climb by 27 percent to peak at nearly $17.9 billion, it now estimates that growth to reach just $15.2 billion, or to grow by just a third at 9 percent. The overall drop is credited to reduced spending by US buyers unable to afford portable media players and other consumer electronics through defaults on subprime mortgages and the ripple effect it creates elsewhere in the world.
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01/29, 9:20am
Low margin on Apple TV
Apple is currently making little to no money on each Apple TV sold, a teardown analysis suggests. The research firm iSuppli has conducted a estimate of the manufacturing costs of the new 40 and 160GB set-tops, and found that after Apple's $70 price cut, the 40GB Apple TV has a margin of just 10 percent, while the 160GB version has a more reasonable 29 percent. Apple normally has product margins closer to 50 percent, and even this does not account for secondary costs such as marketing or distribution.
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01/03, 3:40pm
PMP Market Flat in 2008
This year will be the first that the world's dedicated portable media player market will show clear signs of having neared or reached its peak, according to a new study published by iSuppli. While growth in 2007 was already cooling off compared to the rush of early years, having edged 8 percent ahead year-over-year, 2008 will represent considerably slowed results. Predictions have sales income expanding by only 3.5 percent; the slowdown is expected to continue until at least 2011, where growth may be virtually non-existent at just 1 percent higher than it is today, according to the report. At least some of this can be attributed to lower-cost music players, which may sell in greater numbers but ultimately generate less revenue than in the past.
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