Most, in fact all of the hardware components assembled together to make Microsoft’s unique product – Microsoft Surface RT are known to us. We even know its starting price ($499), don’t we? But what we certainly do not know is how much all these components actually cost.
Nevertheless, we are being given an estimate by a consultancy as to how much all of these components really cost. As per IHS, manufacturing of the most affordable Microsoft Surface 32GB tablet has a Bill of Materials and Manufacturing Cost of $271.
Microsoft Surface RT Teardown
The tear down report by the IHS has revealed that the 32 GB model of Microsoft Surface RT that retails for $ 499 without Touch Cover and other accessories costs just $ 271 in real. The report also contains a look inside the components of the Microsoft Corp.
Most parts are constructed with standardized units, maintained together by easily removable screws. The main components are a Tegra 3 processor chip from Nvidia, and a display and memory chips from Samsung. Apart from this the inside of Surface RT (32 GB) shows it is powered by a 7.4 V, 31.5 Wh battery provided by Samsung. The main board contains a 1.4GHz Nvidia Tegra 3 processor, 32GB of Samsung flash storage, 2GB of Micron RAM, a Marvell wireless MIMO chip and more.
The glass screen of the device and LCD display are fused together. About half of the manufacturing price i.e. $137, is shared by the Korean giant, Samsung since it supplies quite a few of the tablet’s components (memory chips, the battery and the display for the Microsoft Surface RT).
That’s not all! we are also being provided by the actual manufacturing cost of Touch Cover, an additional commodity priced $ 120 online which comes bundled with the higher-end models of Surface. The analysts believe the Microsoft Surface accessory which acts as a protective cover and a hardware keyboard of sorts costs about $16 in all.
Keyboard is an essential peripheral device so, Microsoft will surely be getting a decent profit margin from its peripheral device by luring consumers to buy higher-end models with the Touch Cover and higher memory capacity.
Go here to read the Microsoft Surface Pro Teardown results.
