iSuppli's teardown analysis service dissects Huawei HSDPA card
Nov 08, 2006
An iSuppli Corp. teardown analysis of a Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. High-Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) wireless card for mobile PCs reveals the device is part of a wave of first-generation offerings intended to pave the way for future mass-market products that have more streamlined and cost-reduced designs. iSuppli's Teardown Analysis Service conducted a dissection of the Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. E620, a PCMCIA card that works with 2G tri-band GSM and 3.5G HSDPA. The E620 provides a relatively seamless wireless high-speed Internet connection for mobile PCs that have PCMCIA slots. The E620 carries a materials and manufacturing cost of $79, according to iSuppli's teardown analysis. In comparison, the average materials and manufacturing cost is only about $12 for PCMCIA wireless LAN cards that offer higher downlink speeds, but with much less range and coverage (meters versus miles) than HSDPA delivers. However, the cost of HSPDA cards can be subsidized by wireless service providers, which could reduce the difference in cost between HSPDA cards and wireless LAN cards seen by customers. "Designs for HSDPA wireless cards need to pursue additional cost reductions to help the standard realize its full market potential as a mainstream technology for high-speed wireless data communications," said Andrew Rassweiler, teardown services manager and senior analyst for iSuppli.
The E620's relatively high component count provides plenty of opportunity to produce a more streamlined design that uses fewer passive components. iSuppli expects second-generation HSDPA cards and mobile phones to be less costly to build-and less expensive for consumers to buy.
More information is available at www.isuppli.com
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