Introduction

With the launch of the 4GB and 8GB Apple iPhone in June 2007, memory, for the first time, became a feature that a cell phone manufacturer could use to differentiate otherwise identical products. Quickly following the launch of the Apple iPhone, Nokia responded with an 8GB version of the N95 for the US market. The European version of the N95, launched in March 2007, had provided only 160MB of user memory. Sony Ericsson even preempted the iPhone launch by two weeks with an announcement of an 8GB W960 Walkman music phone, which is expected to be available in select markets starting this quarter. Clearly, memory has become a feature by which cell phone manufacturers are attempting to differentiate their offerings or match competitive products.

Even before the recent flurry of cell phones and cell phone announcements with gigabyte-plus memory capacities, memory, both volatile and non-volatile, underwent dramatic changes in type, quantity, and capacity over the last four years. Although not typically marketed as a product differentiator, user memory was a key contributor to changes in memory components in cell phones. Other factors having varying impacts on memory type, quantity, and capacity include cell phone system architectures, cellular code space requirements, user memory, and pre-installed application space requirements.

Report Description

This report, based on Portelligent product teardowns, will show how the trends in cell phone memory have evolved over the last four years. The report will answer such critical questions as:

1. How have the costs related to changes in memory in cell phones compared to other key components in the cell phone, and what impact have these changes had on the overall cost of the cell phone?

2. What is the average quantity and capacity of memory in the various cell phone market segments, and how has it changed over the last four years?

3. What type, quantity, and capacity of memory components are being used with the various cell phone architectures that a product designer has at their disposal?

4. What has had the biggest impact on memory in cell phones—user memory, cell phone system architecture, OS/application memory requirements, or cellular communications software memory requirements?

Content

Table of Contents

Tables

Figures

1. Executive Summary

2. Portelligent IC BOM Segmentation Model

3. Definition of Terms

4. Key Findings

5. Memory Bill-of-Materials Trends

6. Memory Capacity Trends

7. Cost/MB Trends

8. Cell Phone System Architecture

9. System Architecture—Memory Dependencies

10. Memory Architecture

11. Impact of Cellular Protocols on Non-Volatile Memory

12. User Memory and OS/Applications

13. Portelligent Technology Alert Service (TAS) - Memory Notes

14. 2006 Phone Memory Archetypes—Details

Tables

1: 2006 Cell Phone Archetype by IC BOM Segment

2: 2006-2007 Cell Phone System Architecture Archetypes

Figures

1: IC BOM Segmentation Ranges 2003-2007

2: Average Cell Phone Memory Bill-of-Materials Cost by IC BOM Segment

3: Average Cell Phone Memory Bill-of-Materials Cost Distribution by IC BOM Segment

4: Ratio of Memory Cost to the Overall BOM Cost by IC BOM Segment (Min., Max., Avg.)

5: Average Cell Phone Memory by IC BOM Segment

6: Average Cell Phone Memory MB/$1 by IC BOM Segment

7: Cell Phone System Architecture Distribution by IC BOM Segment

8: 2006 Memory Capacity by IC BOM Segment and System Architecture

9: 2006 Memory Capacity by IC BOM Segment and Memory Architecture

10. 2006 Memory Capacity Distribution by IC BOM Segment and Memory Architecture

11: Minimum Non-Volatile Memory by Cellular Protocol

12: Percent of Phones with an External Memory Slot

13: Average User Memory in Cell Phones

14: Average Reserved Non-Volatile Memory in Cell Phones

15: Ultra-low Segment Phone Memory—Bird S198+

16: Low Segment Phone Memory—Lenovo E317

17: Mid Segment Phone Memory—Motorola RAZR V3i

18: High Segment Phone Memory—LG-CU500

19: Ultra-high Segment Phone Memory—Nokia N93

Value

View us as a wide-angle lens on the personal electronics landscape. We don't replace your expertise and insight, but rather amplify your capabilities and knowledge. Quantitative and qualitative information resources let you answer business-critical questions:

• What enabling electronics technologies are being developed and how will they affect end-products?
• How are my competitors designing with new technologies?
• How does my company compare in competitive benchmarking?
• What technology opportunities are implied from trends in product implementation?
• How will the product features that users want affect our design and technology decisions?

Price

$4,000 Single Print Report Price - Call for Pricing with Database Extract and Three Teardown Reports

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