Plastic Samsung Galaxy S4 costs more to make than iPhone 5

Plastic Samsung Galaxy S4 costs more to make than iPhone 5
Up, up and away

A teardown of the Samsung Galaxy S4 has found that the latest flagship smartphone from the Korean firm costs more to produce than the iPhone 5.

According to research firm IHS, the 32GB version of the Galaxy S4 sets Samsung back $237 (around £152 / AU$232) per unit, while the 16GB iPhone 5 with its premium metal and glass chassis costs Apple $205 (around £132 / AU$200).

The teardown was performed on a US variant of the Galaxy S4 which sports a quad-core Snapdragon processor, while the cost of the Asian version will be around $8 (around £5 / AU$8) more expensive thanks to the Exynos octa-core chip inside.

Perhaps knowing how much it costs Samsung to produce the Galaxy S4 will soften the blow when you come to part with your hard-earned cash, but clearly there's still a healthy profit to be had.

Come fly with me

The Galaxy S4 hasn't been keeping its feet on the teardown operating tablet though, as Romanian site SamsungMobilers has strapped it to a remote control helicopter and taken it for a spin round its local town.

Check out Samsung's

Your Mobile Life

to discover loads more about the infinite possibilities of the GALAXY S4, Note 8.0 and Note II

You can check out the full HD video recorded on the handset below and, while it is pretty impressive, we're not sure if we'd risk strapping such an expensive phone to a drone.

Via AllThingsD and PhoneArena

John McCann
Global Managing Editor

John joined TechRadar over a decade ago as Staff Writer for Phones, and over the years has built up a vast knowledge of the tech industry. He's interviewed CEOs from some of the world's biggest tech firms, visited their HQs and has appeared on live TV and radio, including Sky News, BBC News, BBC World News, Al Jazeera, LBC and BBC Radio 4. Originally specializing in phones, tablets and wearables, John is now TechRadar's resident automotive expert, reviewing the latest and greatest EVs and PHEVs on the market. John also looks after the day-to-day running of the site.