It costs more to build a Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge than an iPhone 6
In your years as an Android user, have you ever heard the notion that Android phones are the poor man’s iPhone? That may be true for those on the low-mid range of the spectrum, though anyone with a brain would wretch at the statement as it pertains to top-shelf offerings. Android phones in today’s age are built with components just as high of a quality as those found inside the iPhone, and in some cases even more so.
It comes as no surprise the same holds true for the Samsung Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge. According to a yet-to-be-released IHS report seen by Re/Code, the 64GB Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge on Verizon Wireless comes with a bill of materials clocking in at roughly $290. To compare, the 128GB iPhone 6 comes with a cost of $263. It may seem an insignificant difference, but when it comes to maximizing profit margins it adds up (even mere cents on the dollar can affect your bottom line in a big way).
It’s even more interesting to think about the fact that even with increased cost in materials, Samsung sells the Galaxy S6 Edge a bit cheaper than Apple does the iPhone 6. Of course, cost of materials doesn’t factor in the money that goes into paying for labor, research and development and marketing, but it’d be hard for anyone to maintain a straight face and make the argument that Samsung’s phones don’t use quality materials.
Much of Samsung’s increased costs come from the curved display, a component said to add $85 to the total. Samsung’s use of 3GB of DDR4 RAM and a UFS 2.0 storage unit (this is near-bleeding edge stuff for mobile phones) also add a pretty significant amount.
Couple that with a metal frame, reinforced glass on the front and rear, a quality camera and a pretty nice kit of silicon in the Exynos 7 chipset, and you have your recipe for a phone that’s filled to the brim with expensive components and the lofty bill of materials to show for it. If nothing else, you can put your mind at ease knowing Samsung didn’t cut a single corner with their latest smartphones, and that you can trump those iPhone-owning friends of yours the next time they try to dismiss your phone as a cheap ripoff.