A detailed teardown by iSuppli has shown that Samsung’s much-hyped Galaxy Tab has a total cost to manufacture of about $200 — $214.57, to be precise. Comparisons to the iPad (estimated at $260 to make) are inevitable, so let’s just get on with it.
The most expensive part of the iPad is the touchscreen, not surprisingly, and Samsung’s display costs significantly less. It is, of course, smaller, but it’s the same horizontal resolution, and there are a lot more factors we don’t know about that might have affected the cost. But that cost also includes the touchscreen assembly, and it’s clear that Apple splurges on that for its touchscreen products.
The processor is ridiculously cheap at $8, but Samsung might be getting more of a discount there, or it could simply be an off-the-shelf unit. Apple spends $26 per unit on the A4, though it belongs to the same class of ARM chip as the one Samsung chose. But that could include integrated RAM, because that wasn’t listed separately on the iPad breakdown.
What it comes down to is basically that Samsung saved a good amount of money on the touchscreen and possibly on the processor, but other than that there are no crazy differences between the way these things are constructed.