Palm Pre Hardware Worth $138 Suggest iSuppli

Tech industry analysts iSuppli have performed a virtual break-down of the Palm Pre, and decided that the unreleased smartphone will cost the company $138 in hardware.  Working from both known suppliers and extrapolating the rest from Palm's confirmed specifications, iSuppli deemed that Palm will see a 44-percent return on each device it sells to Sprint, after taking into account software licensing and royalty costs.

At present, only Qualcomm and Texas Instruments are believed to be confirmed suppliers of Pre components.  Qualcomm are expected to be responsible for the wireless connectivity aspects of the Pre, with iSuppli estimating that hardware to cost $15.41, while TI are providing the OMAP processor, at $11.  The most expensive part of the smartphone is, unsurprisingly, the multitouch-capable display, which the analysts estimate at $39.51.

The Pre's 8GB of flash storage is tagged at $15.96, while the 3-megapixel camera – tentatively believed to be supplied by Aptina – comes in at $12.39.  On top of hardware, iSuppli estimate $22.61 for software and royalty costs, though they're tight-lipped as to whom they've pegged Palm paying.

Given the Pre is expected to retail at around the $200 mark, iSuppli expect Palm to sell it to Sprint at $300; the carrier will offer some sort of rebate to bridge the two figures, making that back over the course of a two-year contract.  Palm themselves declined to comment on the assessment.

[via My Pre]