A smart phone consists of a circuit board which mechanically supports and electrically connects the components, using the conductive tracks, pads and other features, etched from copper sheets, laminated on a non-conductive substrate. In a smart phone, all the parts are integrated onto a single chipset, and this is called System-on-a-Chip (SoC). In a smart phone, the battery takes so much space and so there is no room to have different chipsets. The SoC carries CPU, GPU, memory and other sub-processors such as video encoders and decoders, camera operation, and audio playback. Sometimes, a phone’s modems (wi-fi, Bluetooth, GPS, 3G/4G ) are also integrated into SoC.

The top smart phone SoC makers are Nvidia, Qualcomm, Texas Instruments and Samsung. Apple’s SoCs are AX chips (A4, A5 and A5X).

The circuit boards are made by sophisticated machines. The components are adhered to the board. Certain components are pasted. The boards are inspected and cleaned. Then they are placed in a tray and sent for packing. A finished circuit board is used either in a computer or a smart phone.

The major parts of a smart phone are the circuit board, screen, antennae, micophone, battery, speaker, camera, GPs and sensors.

Qualcomm’s market share is 63 per cent in the processor market.

Cost Break Up of iPhone6

Display and Touch Screen  $41.50

Connectivity(cellular,wi-fi, Bluetooth) Processor  $40.40

Camera  $37.00

Memory and Storage  $14

Other Materials and Assembly  $77.50

Total Parts and Assembly Cost  $227.00