Teardown of Motorola's Q series reveals low-cost smartphones

Felix

Teardown of Motorola's Q series reveals low-cost smartphones [Copy link]

Priced at only $199, Motorola's Q series smartphones have been popular with many users since they were first launched due to their low price. According to iSuppli's disassembly analysis, many top manufacturers' chips can be found in them, and an Intel XScale application processor is also found. It should be noted that Intel has recently sold this part of the business to Marvell for $600 million. This PXA270C5C312 processor also appears in one of Blackberry's latest products, the Blackberry 8700c.

　　Motorola's Q series price target is $199, breaking the $200 mark and setting a new low for smartphones. Through this disassembly analysis, iSuppl estimates that the total accessories and manufacturing cost of this phone is $158. Among them, the cost of all components of the phone is $150, and the estimated manufacturing cost is $8. iSuppli also pointed out that the $158 does not include costs other than manufacturing of the Q series products, such as shipping, logistics, marketing and other channel expenses.

　The extremely low production cost of the Q series reflects the fierce price competition. Verizon Wireless, as the exclusive seller of Motorola's Q series products, offers users Q series products with a two-year Internet contract at a price of $199. iSuppli believes that the extremely low price and low-cost design of this mobile phone will become a "weapon" for Motorola to compete for market share.

　　"The price of the Q series combined with Motorola's overall market strategy is likely to force a price drop in the overall smartphone market and influence users to be cautious about purchasing PDAs/smartphones priced over $200," said Andrew Rassweiler, director and senior analyst at iSuppli who conducted the teardown analysis.

　After removing the phone's casing, iSuppli's teardown team found chips from Intel, Texas Instruments, Broadcom and Qualcomm, which led iSuppli to conclude that the Q series' component makeup is similar to other smartphones the company has previously disassembled and analyzed.

　　A closer look at the voice communication part of this phone shows that it is designed with Qualcomm's MSM6500 digital baseband chipset and a PTWL93017xxxx analog baseband chipset from Texas Instruments. Qualcomm's MSM6500 chipset is the first to appear in this product, and iSuppli has previously seen a similar chipset from Texas Instruments in the Motorola V635 phone. According to iSuppli analysis, the Q series product storage subsystem includes two multi-chip modules: one chip from Intel (including a NOR-type 256Mb flash memory and 64Mb of Pseudo SRAM), and the other storage chip from M Systems Flash Disk Pioneers Ltd, which has a 128Mb flash memory DiskOnChip and a 64Mb 1.8V synchronous DRAM.

After all, Motorola has high hopes for the Q series, the latest of which includes the ultra-thin RAZR and SLVR. These phones, especially the RAZR, have achieved huge sales, solidifying its position as the second largest player in the global mobile phone market. Motorola has predicted that it will ship more than 5 million Q series units in 2006, including more than 3 million units in the fourth quarter. Thus, Motorola has entered a new competitive market.

　　The Q series features dual-band CDMA, 1 x data optimization and Bluetooth, stereo audio output, a 1.3 megapixel digital camera with flash, a spacious 2.4-inch TFT display and a 35-key QWERTY keyboard in a 0.45-inch ultra-thin design. In terms of software, the Q series comes pre-installed with Microsoft's Windows 5.0 Mobile operating system, a simplified Internet browser and Windows Media Player.