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BlackBerry Z10 teardown reveals striking similarities to the Galaxy S III

Published Feb 12th, 2013 12:40PM EST
BlackBerry Z10 Teardown

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When picking out hardware for your big comeback smartphone, why not go with what’s already proven to work? That’s apparently the philosophy that the team at BlackBerry (BBRY) decided to adopt, as a teardown of the BlackBerry Z10 by UMB TechInsights shows that much of the new device’s hardware is the same hardware used in Samsung’s (005930) smash hit Galaxy S III device.

Much like the Galaxy S III, the Z10 uses Qualcomm’s (QCOM) MSM8960 applications processor, its PM8921 power management IC, its RTR8600 multi-mode transceiver and GPS, and its WCD9310 audio codec. In addition to the Qualcomm hardware, BlackBerry decided to use some hardware produced by Samsung itself for the Z10, including chips for both its system memory and usable memory.

“All in all, the Blackberry Z10 seems to incorporate many of the component selections of the Samsung Galaxy S3 LTE,” UMB TechInsights writes. “It’s not certain if these decisions the designers made on what semiconductors, ICs and other modules to use were by design or by accident but based on the relative success of the Samsung Galaxy S3, it isn’t a bad model to draw from.”

Brad Reed
Brad Reed Staff Writer

Brad Reed has written about technology for over eight years at BGR.com and Network World. Prior to that, he wrote freelance stories for political publications such as AlterNet and the American Prospect. He has a Master's Degree in Business and Economics Journalism from Boston University.