Galaxy S20 Ultra’s cameras make up 1/5th of the phone’s $528 production cost

Ben Schoon | Mar 5 2020 - 8:47 am PT

The Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra is a really, really expensive smartphone and now, we know what makes it tick. Today, Tech Insights has taken a deep dive in the Galaxy S20 Ultra to reveal how much the device costs to make, also revealing how much of that cost comes from the camera.

This latest teardown of the Galaxy S20 Ultra shows off the device’s internals in-depth from the boards within to the camera sensors. It’s an interesting read, but there’s a point of interest with the analysis’ estimated cost of materials for the device overall.

Apparently, it costs Samsung roughly $528 just in materials to produce a Galaxy S20 Ultra. That may make the $1,400 price tag feel like a scam, but that price isn’t accounting for the cost of machinery and labor required to produce the device as well as its accessories and packaging. Plus, there are the costs associated with marketing the device and organizing shipments around the globe.

As you’d probably expect, components such as boards, RAM, storage, and others make up a significant amount of the cost of this device. However, it’s the camera array that makes up the highest cost on the S20 Ultra.

Out of the $528 it costs Samsung to get materials to make a Galaxy S20 Ultra, $107.50 can be attributed to the camera array. That’s a pretty huge number, but it’s definitely justified by the 5 sensors being used here — 108MP primary, 48MP telephoto w/ 10x optical zoom, 12MP ultrawide, ToF sensor, 40MP selfie.

Also notable is the cost of the “Applications/Baseband Processor” — aka the Snapdragon 865 — which comes in at $81.