In the past, Samsung has charged premium prices for phones that have just felt cheap, thanks largely to the flimsy plastic builds on devices like the Galaxy S4. However, Samsung has been working to improve its build quality since then and with the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 edge, it’s come out with two phones that really feel premium. Re/code reports that Samsung really spared no expense when it came to building its new phones either, as they cost the company more money to build than any other phone it’s released so far.
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As Re/code tells it, a new report from research firm IHS shows that it costs Samsung $290 to build the 64GB Galaxy S6 edge when both parts and assembly are accounted for. Not surprisingly, the biggest item on the bill of materials is the curved touchscreen that costs $85 per phone to build and assemble. After this, Samsung’s own Exynos 7 chipset is the second most expensive item on the BOM and costs an estimated $29.50.
All of this makes the S6 edge much cheaper than the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus to build — according to IHS, Apple’s newest smartphones cost $247 and $263 to build, respectively.
At any rate, it looks as though Samsung’s work building a flagship phone that has the premium feel of an iPhone or a top-of-the-line HTC phone has finally paid off. For the first time in the Galaxy S series’s history, we can say there’s absolutely nothing cheap about a Samsung flagship smartphone.
