The Xiaomi 12S Ultra is the most powerful flagship phone launched by Xiaomi this year. With high-end specifications and Leica cameras, of course many are wondering how much it costs Xiaomi to produce one unit of the Xiaomi 12S Ultra.
Counterpoint Research recently released a bill of materials (BoM) analysis for the Xiaomi 12S Ultra 8GB/256GB variant which is the cheapest variant.
It turns out that according to Counterpoint data, the BoM of the Xiaomi 12S Ultra is USD 516 . As a reminder, the price of the Xiaomi 12S Ultra in China starts at 5,999 Yuan for the 8GB/256GB variant.
The USD 516 fee includes components, assembly, testing, intellectual property rights, and the contents of the packaging box. Keep in mind that the above costs do not include advertising, research and development costs, warranty services, etc., so it doesn't mean that Xiaomi makes a profit of up to USD 374 for every unique Xiaomi 12S Ultra sold.
Of all these costs, most of the costs are spent on critical components such as processors, displays, and camera sensors. In terms of component supply partners, Qualcomm, Samsung, and Sony are the most profitable.
Qualcomm provides not only the Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 chipset, but also power management components, RF transceivers and front-end components, connectivity ICs, and audio codecs.
Meanwhile, Samsung provides a 6.73-inch LTPO E5 AMOLED panel and 8GB LPDDR5 RAM. Sony of course supplies sensors for the three rear cameras consisting of a 1-inch IMX989 sensor for the main camera, and a pair of IMX586 sensors for the telephoto and ultra-wide cameras.
This BoM analysis is quite interesting, considering that last year Xiaomi committed to maintaining a 5% profit margin for its phones. This commitment was expressed by Xiaomi at the launch of the Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra which is their first premium flagship phone.
"We will always maintain an overall 5% profit margin across all of our hardware businesses," said Xiaomi after the launch of the Mi 11 Ultra last year, as quoted by Android Authority, Sunday (24/7/2022).
The Xiaomi 12S Ultra is currently only available in China. Together with the Xiaomi 12S and 12S Pro, this is the first Xiaomi phone to carry Leica camera technology.