Design Article
'Teardown' finds Sony taking a bath on each PS3
Dylan McGrath
11/16/2006 1:16 PM EST
Some of the more advanced features of the PS3 design, according to iSuppli, include:
According to Rassweiler, prior to PS3, iSuppli's teardown analysis team had seen only three chips with 1,200 or more pins in its five-year history. "The PlayStation 3 has three such semiconductors all by itself," Rassweiler said. "There is nothing cheap about the PlayStation 3 design. This is not an adapted PC design. Even beyond the major chips in the PlayStation 3, the other components seem to also be expensive and somewhat exotic."
As an example, Rassweiler cited PS3's inclusion of a power supply that packs 400-watts—yet uses a very compact, low-profile design. At $37.50, this power supply costs about twice as much as an average unit found in a PC, according to Rassweiler. While many of the major components found in the PlayStation 3 were already known, iSuppli's teardown analysis team reported some surprise part selections that the firm noted could boost the fortunes of their suppliers. According to the firm, these include:
Sony's difficulties in getting the PS3 to market, including a pushback of several months on the original timetable announced earlier this year, have been well publicized. As a result, Sony is now delivering less than half the number of units that it originally planned. In Japan, where Sony reportedly delivered fewer than the 100,000 units it had promised, initial PS3 shipments sold out in a matter of hours. In the U.S., consumers camped out overnight Wednesday to get a good place in line for the midnight release Friday morning.
Sony recently said it has solved its biggest manufacturing hurdle, the volume production of blue laser diodes.
A separate teardown analysis conducted by Semiconductor Insights yielded similar findings. Video of that teardown is linked to the story.
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