Recently, Japanese media Nikkei Asia opened Honor's latest X30 smartphone with the help of Fomalhaut Techno Solutions. The estimated prices of internal components were counted to calculate the relative share of the production of the equipment in different countries.
Disassembly shows that in the 5G smartphone Honor X30 launched in December 2021, the share of US components soared from 10% of Huawei-made 30S models released in 2020 to 39%.
Most of the core components of the X30, including the processor and 5G chipset, are provided by American manufacturers such as Qualcomm, of course, this is also a helpless choice because Huawei has been sanctioned by the United States and cannot continue to use Huawei HiSilicon chips.
Honor spun off from Huawei in November 2020 to circumvent U.S. Department of Commerce sanctions that prohibit Huawei from using key U.S. technologies such as microchips and operating systems.
The estimated production cost of the Honor X30 smartphone is $217. U.S. modules account for the largest share of costs, accounting for 39% of total costs. This is a strong increase of 29 percentage points from Huawei's 30S launched under the Honor brand in the spring of 2020. In most core areas, including main processors and 5G chipsets, U.S. components have replaced Chinese components.
At the same time, the share of Chinese components fell by 27 percentage points to about 10%. HiSilicon offers a system-on-chip (SoC), 5G chipset, and power management chip for the 2020 model. Other Chinese manufacturers and Japanese suppliers, including Murata, Sun Power and TDK, are also involved in the 2020 model 30S communications chips.
But HiSilicon is no longer one of the suppliers of these components of the X30. With the exception of The Japanese parts, all communications chips for the latest models are supplied by Qualcomm and Qorvo, another major component manufacturer in the United States. The only Chinese communication chip component used is a communication signal amplifier based on old technology.
The sharp expansion in the use of U.S. parts could mean honor has been unable to ensure an adequate supply of Chinese-made cutting-edge smartphone parts.
In August 2020, the United States imposed sanctions restricting any foreign semiconductor company from selling chips developed or produced using U.S. software or technology to Huawei without a license, thereby cutting off Huawei's access to important advanced computer chips.
This move also makes it difficult for Huawei to manufacture chips from TSMC, the world's leading foundry chip manufacturer.
The only relatively expensive Chinese component used by the X30 is the display. The price of the LCD display is estimated at $14, but it is less than one-fifth the price of the OLED panel used in the flagship model.
Yoshio Tamura, co-founder and president of Asia at American Research, said that China has a large number of lcd display manufacturers, including the leading BOE Technology Group and Pegasus Microelectronics, providing a wide variety of options for smartphone manufacturers.
Among honor X30 mobile phones, Japanese parts account for about 16% of the total production cost, accounting for the second largest share. Murata Manufacturing, Sun Dielectric, and Sony Group camera image sensors and communication components manufactured by TDK all contribute to Japan's share. Due to the more complex camera and communication functions in the latest models, the number of Japanese components has increased.
Honor isn't the only Chinese smartphone maker that relies heavily on U.S. chips. Two other fast-growing Chinese smartphone makers — Xiaomi and Oppo — are also looking to U.S. suppliers for key components. Fomalhaut's data shows that the foldable phone Xiaomi Mi X Hold launched in 2021 has a 26% share of U.S. components. Oppo's Reno6Pro+ has a 31% share in the U.S.
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