Motorola DROID Costs $187.75 To Make, Claims iSuppli

If teardowns are guilty titillation for the geek who likes to see must-have gadgets stripped to their component parts, iSuppli's versions are the respectable analysis that leave us believing we've actually learned something important afterward.  Latest across their bench is the Motorola DROID, and iSuppli reckon the Android smartphone costs Moto $179.11 in parts and a further $8.64 per handset to manufacture.

Interestingly, the most expensive component iSuppli found is the DROID's 16GB microSD card, which costs $35 apiece.  That's followed by the pretty marvellous 3.7-inch LCD TFT display, at $17.75, just edging ahead of the capacitive touchscreen layer at $17.50.

There's at least one surprise inside, too, in that Motorola have apparently used a camera autofocus module with a mechanism so-far unseen by iSuppli.  They reckon it could use bimetallic strips – which flex when heated – rather than the more common voice-coil actuation of other such modules.

[Image via phoneWreck]