TechInsights has posted an exhaustive teardown of the new BlackBerry Z10 smartphone that seems to show the Z10's parts cost more than those inside the iPhone 5.
The site took apart a new Z10, cataloguing all its parts and assigning a monetary value to them based on current market rates. Of course, the values are just estimates, but what's useful is the comparison -- it matters little whether a display should actually be priced at $12 versus $13, but it's important to know that one phone has a display that is generally more expensive than the one on a competitor.
As for the Z10, its 4.2-inch, 1280 by 768 pixel display runs about $19. The iPhone's 4-inch, 1136 by 640 pixel display only runs $15.
The touchscreen and glass in the Z10 costs $7.50, a dollar more than the iPhone's version.
The batteries are equivalent, but the camera in the Z10 costs 50 percent more than the iPhone's, $15 vs. $10.
The Z10 doubles the SDRAM in the iPhone, so naturally it's more expensive, but upgraded components more than double the cost.
The A6 processor in the iPhone runs $22, but the Qualcomm MSM8960 in the Z10 is $23.50.
Altogether, TechInsights estimates the parts that make up the Z10 run a total of $154. The iPhone could theoretically be put together for $139.20.
Of course, more expensive parts don't guarantee better performance, but it's worth noting that most of the parts in the Z10 are identical to those in the Samsung Galaxy S III.
While the S III is a good phone, it's certainly not objectively better than the iPhone 5. And the S III came out last summer, so it may not bode well for the Z10's useful lifespan that on the inside it looks like an older phone.