See also: The Electronics Weekly guide to the iPhone 3G, a roundup of news and content on Apple's latest mobile phone.
Several Apple 
component suppliers maintained their placement in the iPhone handset family with inclusion in the iPhone 3G S, while higher levels of wireless integration brought in new names for a total BOM (bill of materials) of $178.96 on a dissected 16Gbyte model, according to iSuppli Corp's Teardown Analysis Service.
"The entry-level, 16Gbyte version of Apple Inc's new iPhone 3G S carries a BOM cost of $172.46 and a manufacturing expense of $6.50, for a total of $178.96," said 
Andrew Rassweiler, director and principal analyst, teardown services, for iSuppli, in a statement yesterday.
"This is slightly higher than iSuppli's estimate of $174.33 for the original low-end 8Gbyte iPhone 3G based on pricing in July 2008. Although the retail price of the 16Gbyte iPhone 3G S is $199, the same as for the 8Gbyte version of the original iPhone 3G, the actual price of the phone paid by the service provider is considerably higher, reflecting the common wireless industry practice of subsidizing the upfront cost of a mobile phone and then making a profit on subscriptions."
Beyond its speed enhancements, added video capture, and upgraded autofocus 3-megapixel camera, the market research company noted few differences between the features of the iPhone 3G S and the iPhone 3G.
"From a component and design perspective, there's also a great deal of similarity between the 3G and the 3G S," Rassweiler said.
"By leveraging this commonality to optimize materials costs, and taking advantage of price erosion in the electronic component marketplace, Apple can provide a higher-performing product with more memory and features at only a slightly higher materials and manufacturing cost. Nonetheless, there are a few key differences in component selection compared to the iPhone 3G introduced a year ago."
iSuppli made special note of the iPhone 3G S' use of a Broadcom single-chip Bluetooth/FM/WLAN device, costing $5.95, as representing an ongoing industry trend toward higher levels of integration. Previously, to implement these functions, the 3G employed a Marvell Technology WLAN chip and a Cambridge Silicon Radio Bluetooth IC.
iSuppli also made special note of Dialog Semiconductor, which made its debut in the iPhone line with its power management IC serving the 3G S' applications processor. At an estimated cost of $1.30, the Dialog chip replaces a corresponding NXP Semiconductors device in the 3G, the company said.
According to the teardown, the iPhone 3G S uses AKM Semiconductor's electronic compass and STMicroelectronics' accelerometer, both of which are three-axis devices, to implement the handset's digital compass feature.
In the 3G S unit dissected by iSuppli, Toshiba scored the biggest single design win with its 16Gbyte MLC (multilevel-cell) NAND flash costing $24. "With the price of NAND flash having risen in recent months due to supply constraints, this represents a lucrative design win for Toshiba. However, while Toshiba was the supplier of the NAND in the specific 3G S torn down by iSuppli, the part is available from other sources that Apple is likely to use, most notably Samsung Electronics," iSuppli said.
iSuppli noted that Infineon Technologies, TriQuint, and Samsung maintained their positions in the new handset. Prior the 3G S introduction, it had been speculated that Qualcomm might bump Infineon as the supplier of the phone's critical baseband chip. Similarly, TriQuint kept its slot as the 3G power amplifier module supplier, supporting the tri-band HSPA functionality of the phone.
Samsung also held its position as iPhone's applications processor supplier. Priced at $14.46, the applications processor used an ARM RISC microprocessor with 600-MHz clock speed.
iSuppli noted that its total BOM estimate does not include all costs, such as software development, shipping and distribution, packaging, royalty fees, and miscellaneous accessories included with each phone.
By Suzanne Deffree, Managing Editor, News - Electronic News