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A Teardown Comparison of the Apple iPhone 5 A1428, Nokia Lumia 920, and Samsung Galaxy S4 GT-I9505

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Cutting-Edge Smartphones: A Teardown Comparison of the Apple iPhone 5 A1428, Nokia Lumia 920, and Samsung Galaxy S4 GT-I9505

TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. General Smartphones Comparison ...........................................................................................3 2. Functional Block Comparison ...................................................................................................6

2.1 Comparison of Application and Baseband Processors ...................................................7 2.2 Flash Memory Comparison .......................................................................................... 10 2.3 RF Antenna Comparison ............................................................................................. 10

3. Subsystem Comparison .......................................................................................................... 18 3.1 Display Comparison .................................................................................................... 19 3.2 Main Camera Comparison ........................................................................................... 21 3.3 Battery Comparison ..................................................................................................... 22

4. Comparison of IC Package Brands ......................................................................................... 22 5. Conclusions ............................................................................................................................ 26

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1.0 GENERAL SMART PHONES COMPARISON

On March 14, Samsung announced the newest addition to its Galaxy S phone lineup and successor to the Galaxy S III: the Samsung Galaxy S4. The Galaxy S4 already ranks among the three most popular high-end smartphones, along with the Nokia Lumia 920, which marked the company’s big return to the smartphone market, and Apple’s long-anticipated iPhone 5. These models revealed innovative features such as high-resolution screens, wireless charging, eye-tracking software that represent the cutting edge of the mobile phone market and elevated customer expectations to the next level. This report compares the significant features of these three smartphones, including application and baseband processors, flash memory size, communications capability, display size and technology, main camera size, and battery size and use time. The information presented is from teardowns conducted by TechInsights.

Apple iPhone 5 A1428

The long-awaited Apple iPhone 5 A1428 sports a slimmer, lighter design with LTE capability (along with quad-band GSM/EDGE and quad-band W-CDMA/HSPA+). The redesigned Retina (IPS TFT-LCD) display is slightly narrower and 4 inches long. It has 1136 x 640 resolution, 16M colors, and a capacitive touchscreen with Gorilla Glass overlay, and is the first to support an aspect ratio of 16:9. The iPhone 5 runs the Apple iOS 6 operating system on a dual-core 1.3 GHz A6 processor with 1 GB RAM. This is the company’s first system-on-chip (SoC) to use a customized design based on the ARM 7 instruction set (for previous iPhones, Apple licensed existing processor designs). Other features include 32 GB of internal memory (16 GB and 64 GB versions are also available) and two cameras. The rear-facing 8 MP BSI CMOS iSight camera uses a sapphire crystal to showcase colors in a more vivid way and also features autofocus, LED flash, and HD video capability

(1080p @ 30 fps). The front-facing 1.2 MP CMOS camera has autofocus and HD video capability (720p) as well. Another significant new feature is the 8-pin “Lightning” dock connector that replaces the 30-pin “Apple Dock” connector of previous models. This port is roughly the size of a microUSB jack and doesn’t support certain older accessories. Connectivity includes WiFi 802.11a/b/g/n (2.4 GHz & 5 GHz), Bluetooth 4.0, microUSB 2.0, and GPS/GLONASS. The iPhone 5 is powered by a built-in 3.8 V, 1440 mAh Li-Polymer battery that provides a claimed 8 hours of 3G use time, 8 hours of LTE Internet use, and 225 hours of standby. As a result of this battery enhancement, users can now get through an entire day of web-browsing, e-mail, games, music, and videos.

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Nokia Lumia 920

The Nokia Lumia 920 smartphone runs the Microsoft Windows Phone 8 operating system on a dual-core 1.5 GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Krait processor with 1 GB RAM. It also features a 4.5-in. Puremotion HD+ IPS TFT-LCD display with WXGA (1280 x 768) resolution, 16M colors, and capacitive touchscreen with Gorilla Glass overlay. Other features include 32 GB of internal memory (it lacks a microSD slot for additional storage) and two cameras. The rear-facing 8.7 MP BSI CMOS camera has autofocus, LED flash, Nokia PureView technology, and HD video (1080p) capability. There’s also a front-facing 1.2 MP camera for video calls. Sensors include an accelerometer, electronic compass, and ambient light/proximity sensor. Connectivity is provided by WiFi 802.11b/g/n, Bluetooth 3.0, microUSB 2.0,

NFC, DLNA, and GPS. The Lumia 920 is powered by a 3.7 V, 2000 mAh Li-Polymer battery that supplies a manufacturer-rated 18.6 hours of 3G use time and 460 hours of 3G standby. The phone also comes with a wireless charging pad and supports inductive charging.

Samsung Galaxy S4 GT-I9505 Samsung introduced two versions of the Galaxy S4, the GT-I9505 and the GT-I9500, TechInsights analyzed the GT-I9505 which is configured for quad-band GSM/EDGE, W-CDMA/HSPA+, and LTE for top performance. Features such as Air Gesture and Smart View allow “touch-free” operation. It features a large 5-in. Super AMOLED display with full HD 1080p (1920 x 1080) resolution, 16M colors, capacitive touchscreen with Gorilla Glass 3 overlay, and the TouchWiz UI. It runs the Android 4.2.2 “Jelly Bean” operating system on (presumably) a 1.9 GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 processor (APQ8064T) with 2 GB RAM. Other features include 16 GB of internal memory, a microSD slot for additional storage (max. 64 GB), and two cameras. The rear-facing 13 MP BSI CMOS has autofocus, LED flash, and 1080p HD video capability. The front-facing 2 MP BSI CMOS, also has 1080p

HD video capability. An integrated IR smart remote allows you to remotely control TVs or set-top boxes equipped with IR. The Galaxy S4 GT-I9505 is powered by a 3.8 V, 2600 mAh Li-ion battery that supplies a listed 17 hours of use time and 370 hours of standby.

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Figure 1 gives a side-by-side comparison of the basic features of these three smartphones. Though similar in many ways, the Galaxy S4 stands out as having the fastest processor (quad-core 1.9 GHz), largest display (5.0”), and camera with the highest resolution (13 MP).

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Figure 1 - Comparison of Apple iPhone 5, Nokia Lumia 920, and Samsung Galaxy S4 Specifications

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2.0 FUNCTIONAL BLOCK COMPARISON

The following sections give a more detailed comparison of the major components of the Apple iPhone 5, Nokia Lumia 920, and Galaxy S4 GT-I9505.

2.1 Comparison of Application and Baseband Processors

Apple iPhone 5 The A6 system-on-chip (SoC) designed by Apple was announced on September 12, 2012, at the launch of the iPhone 5. The processor was manufactured by Samsung on a high-k metal gate 32 nm process. The chip measures 96.71 mm2, which makes it 22% smaller than that of the previous version, the A5. According to Apple, the new A6 processor is twice as fast, has twice the graphic performance, and draws less power than its predecessor. Notably, the CPU is not a strict ARM-licensed CPU, but a custom-built ARM Cortex CPU. It uses a modified ARM instruction set called ARMv7s, which is a solution known from Qualcomm CPUs.

Figure 2 - Die Photo of the Apple A6/APL0598 Processor

Figure 3 - Die Photo of the Qualcomm MDM9615M

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Nokia Lumia 920

The Qualcomm Snapdragon family of SoCs is designed for use in smartphones, tablets, and smart book devices. The "Krait" CPU found in the S4 Snapdragon SoC is the successor to the original Snapdragon CPU, the "Scorpion," and is based on the ARMv7 instruction set. The Snapdragon S4 SoC incorporates an Adreno 225 GPU (graphics processing unit), which supports the DirectX 9/Shader Model 3.0 API and is compatible with the Microsoft Windows 8 operating system. Snapdragon SoCs integrate the baseband processor and application processor on the same die, which reduces the complexity and cost of the final design. In the teardown of the Nokia Lumia 920, we found the model MSM8260A from the Snapdragon S4 Plus family. This processor is made

using the 28 nm process and has a clock speed of up to 1.7 GHz, though that of the Nokia Lumia 920 is only 1.5 GHz. The processor is supported by 1 GB of dual-channel 500 MHz LPDDR2 RAM Memory.

Samsung Galaxy S4 GT-I9505

For this Galaxy S4 GT-I9505, Samsung decided to use a model APQ8064T from the new Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 family of processors. Compared to other processors from the Snapdragon family, this one has a maximum 1.9 GHz quad-core and newer Adreno 320 GPU, and is supported by 32-bit dual-channel LPDDR3 RAM Memory. The APQ8064T lacks an integrated baseband module but can be seamlessly integrated with Qualcomm 3G and LTE Mobile Data Modems (MDMs) and modules, which gives designers more flexible design configurations. The APQ8064T processor is made using the 28 nm process and is based on the ARMv7 instruction set, as are most SoCs from the Snapdragon family.

Figure 6 shows a die photo of the MDM9215M GSM/W-CDMA/LTE modem used in the Galaxy S4.

Figure 4 - Die Photo of Qualcomm MSM8260A

Figure 5 - Die Photo of the Qualcomm APQ8064T

Figure 6 - Die Photo of the Qualcomm MDM9215M

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Figure 7 - Comparison of Application Processors

Figure 8 - Comparison of Baseband Processors

Apple iPhone 5 A1428 Nokia Lumia 920*Samsung Galaxy S4

GT-I9505

Apple Qualcomm QualcommA6 / APL0598 MSM8260A APQ8064T

Dual-Core 1.3 GHz Dual-Core 1.5 GHz Quad-Core 1.9 GHz1 GB 1 GB 2 GB

Type BGA Package-on-Package BGA Package-on-Package BGA Package-on-PackageConnections 1564 982 876Dimensions (mm) 15.52 x 14.0 x 0.8 14.0 x 14.0 x 0.64 14.0 x 14.0 x 1.0Part Number A6 / APL0598 HG11-VR150-32011 HG11-N5722Technology CMOS - 28nm CMOS - 28nm CMOS - 28nmDimensions (mm) 9.94 x 9.71 10.0 x 9.16 9.97 x 8.93Die $25.73 $21.27 $29.67Package $4.97 $2.73 $3.65Test $2.50 $1.96 $2.11Total $33.20 $25.96 $35.43

*Baseband Processor is integrated with Application Processor

RAM

Package

Die

Cost

Application Processor

BrandPart NumberClock Speed

Apple iPhone 5 A1428Samsung Galaxy S4

GT-I9505

Qualcomm QualcommMDM9615M MDM9215M

Multimode Baseband Processor GSM / W-CDMA / LTE Baseband

Processor

128 MB 128 MBType BGA Stacked 2 BGA Stacked 2Connections 383 321Dimensions 9.02 x 9.0 x 1.1 8.98 x 8.97 x 1.04Part Number HG11-N3877 HG11-N9209Technology CMOS - 28nm CMOS - 28nmDimensions 7.3 x 5.86 7.27 x 5.81Die Cost $18.39 $15.89Brand Samsung ElpidaPart Number 1G-F-MC M100ACDDescription Mobile DDR SDRAM Memory Mobile DDR SDRAM MemoryTechnology CMOS - 65nm CMOS - 65nmMemory Value 128 MB 128 MBDimensions 6.2 x 5.1 7.59 x 3.65Die Cost $0.76 $0.66Total Die $19.15 $16.55Package $2.07 $1.65Test $1.59 $1.72Total $22.81 $19.92

Memory

Package

Processor Die

Memory Die

Cost

Baseband Processor

Brand

Functional Description

Part Number

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2.2 Flash Memory Comparison

The Nokia Lumia 920 is available with 32 GB of internal memory. However, the Apple iPhone 5 and Samsung Galaxy S4 give users more freedom of choice in this area, offering versions of their top models with 16 GB, 32 GB, or 64 GB of internal memory. Notably, the Samsung S4 also has a microSD slot, allowing additional storage expansion of up to 64 GB.

Figure 9 - Flash Memory Comparison

2.3 RF Antenna Comparison

Apple iPhone 5 A1428 The Apple iPhone 5 has four antennas. The RF signal travels from the WiFi/Bluetooth antenna to the multimode baseband processor (Qualcomm MDM9615M) via a WiFi 802.11a/b/g/n/Bluetooth/FM Radio module. There are two antennas (Cellular Antenna 1 and 2) for quad-band GSM/W-CDMA/LTE RF signals. Via an RF antenna switch and one diversity antenna switch, the RF signal travels to the five power amplifiers and then goes to the transceiver (Qualcomm PTR8600). The signal from the GPS antenna travels from the GPS front-end module to this transceiver.

Apple iPhone 5 A1428 Nokia Lumia 920Samsung Galaxy S4

GT-I9505SanDisk Toshiba Samsung

SDMALBB4 032G THGBM5G8A4JBAIM KLMAG4FEAB

Multichip Memory - 32 GB MLC iNAND Flash, Memory

Controller

Multichip Memory - 32 GB MLC NAND Flash, Memory

Controller

Multichip Memory- 16 GB MLC NAND Flash, Memory

Controller

Type BGA Stacked 5 BGA Stacked 5 BGA Stacked 5Connections 60 168 153Dimensions (mm) 16.0 x 12.15 x 1.1 16.04 x 12.05 x 0.7 10.98 x 9.9 x 0.99Part Number EHL9-64G EGW1 64G K9GBG08U0BQuantity 4 4 4Technology CMOS - 28nm CMOS - 28nm CMOS - 28nmMemory Value 8 GB 8 GB 4 GBDimensions (mm) 15.60 x 7.75 12.97 x 8.74 10.3 x 8.1Die Cost $3.95 $3.09 $2.27Part Number ANOBIT GAT5 0003 S4LL125S01Technology CMOS - 90nm CMOS - 45nm CMOS - 90nmDimensions (mm) 5.61 x 2.81 4.68 x 1.51 5.34 x 1.32Die Cost $1.06 $0.69 $0.41Die Cost Total $16.86 $13.05 $9.49Package $0.66 $0.80 $0.71Test $0.10 $0.55 $0.50TOTAL $17.62 $14.40 $10.70

Memory Die

Memory Controller Die

Total Cost

Memory

BrandPart Number

Description

Package

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Figure 11 - Cellular Antenna 2 & GPS

Figure 12 - WiFi/Bluetooth Antenna

Figure 10 - Cellular Antenna 1

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WiFi/Bluetooth Antenna

HB MIMO Antenna

Nokia Lumia 920: The Nokia Lumia 920 has seven antennas. The RF signal travels from the WiFi/Bluetooth antenna to the baseband/applications processor (Qualcomm MSM8260A) via a WiFi 802.11a/b/g/n/Bluetooth/FM Radio module. There are four antennas for GSM and W-CDMA. The two main antennas (for low band and high band) are connected to the transceiver (Qualcomm RTR8600) by five power amplifiers and an SP10T antenna switch. Two diversity antennas (for low band and high band) are connected to a transceiver (Qualcomm WTR1605L) by an SP5T antenna switch. The signal from the GPS antenna travels via a GPS/GNSS low-noise amplifier to this transceiver. The signal from the NFC antenna travels from the NFC controller to this transceiver.

Figure 13 - HB/LB Main Antenna

Figure 14 - WiFi/Bluetooth & HB MIMO Antenna

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Figure 16 - GPS Antenna

Figure 15 - LB MIMO Antenna

Figure 17 - NFC Antenna

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Samsung Galaxy S4 GT-I9505 The Samsung Galaxy S4 has five antennas. The RF signal travels from the WiFi/BT antenna to the baseband processor (Qualcomm MDM9215M) via the WiFi 802.11a/b/g/n/Bluetooth/FM Radio module. There are two antennas for GSM, W-CDMA, and LTE: one main antenna connected to the transceiver (Qualcomm WTR1605L) via three power amplifiers and a second diversity antenna connected to this transceiver by a receive diversity switch. The signal from the GPS antenna travels via a GPS/GNSS low noise amplifier to this transceiver. The signal from the NFC antenna also travels from the NFC Module to this transceiver.

Figure 19 - RxD Antenna

Figure 18 - Main Antenna

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Figure 20 - WiFi/Bluetooth Antenna

Figure 21 - GPS Antenna

Figure 22 - NFC Antenna

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RF solutions in the iPhone 5 and Samsung S4 look quite similar: both phones have a large main antenna at the bottom of the phone enclosure and a large antenna at the top for receive diversity. However, the WiFi/Bluetooth and GPS antennas are located in different places: in the iPhone 5, the WiFi antenna is placed under the diversity antenna, at the top of the phone; and in the Samsung S4, the WiFi/Bluetooth antenna is placed on side of the enclosure. The GPS antenna in both cases is located at the top corner of the phone. Nokia decided to split their antennas, so that the Lumia 920 has separate antennas for high band and low band. They also decided to have a separate receive diversity antenna, as in the iPhone 5 and Galaxy S4 phones. The difference is that Nokia decided to place the diversity antenna on the side with WiFi/Bluetooth antenna and not at the top of the phone. The iPhone 5 doesn't have NFC capability, which has become a very popular feature. Also, its RF block costs the most: $17.84. The least expensive RF block is in the Lumia 920: $14.20. The disadvantage is that the Lumia 920 doesn't have the LTE capability. Samsung decided that its top high-end phone had to have both NFC and LTE. With these both features, the cost of the RF block is still only $15.90, which makes the Galaxy S4 dangerous competition for both the iPhone 5 and Lumia 920.

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3.0 SUBSYSTEM COMPARISON 3.1 Display Comparison Apple iPhone 5 A1428

Compared to the Nokia Lumia 920 and Samsung Galaxy S4, the iPhone 5 has the smallest display: a 4.0" Retina IPS TFT-LCD with 1136 x 640 resolution and 16M colors. The official Apple website claims that anyone can make a larger smartphone display, but larger displays often feel oversized and are harder to use. Apple chose a smartphone display for the new iPhone that would feel just right to the user. The 4" display is big enough for comfortable use, yet small enough so that all tasks can be done with one hand, such as typing on the keyboard. Retina is the brand name used by Apple for its liquid crystal display. The Retina Display was first used in the iPhone 4. When introducing the iPhone 4, Steve Jobs noted that the Retina Display has higher resolution and smaller pixels, making the image on the display look smoother. Jobs also claimed that, when viewed from 12 inches away, the pixels on the new Retina Display were so small they exceeded the eye's ability to detect them.

Nokia Lumia 920 The Nokia Lumia 920 has a 4.5" Puremotion HD+ IPS-TFT display with 1280 x 768 resolution and 16M colors. According to Nokia, all display technologies currently used in modern smartphones suffer from inadequate video quality. The company noted that current hardware and operating systems are capable of delivering smooth rendering at a steady rate of 60 FPS (frames per second), yet display technologies are still designed for lower rendering rates when fast-response time displays are not necessary. As a result, users get blurred images when scrolling, navigating, or playing games. Nokia made some small but significant changes to standard IPS-LCD technology to produce what it calls Puremotion HD+. In typical IPS-type LCDs used in mobile devices, the pixel transition time is longer than the period of one rendered frame. In practice, the time it takes a pixel to change its state from one level to another takes several seconds,

resulting in blurry images. When we are talking about gray-to-gray transitions, we can say that the crystal driving voltage difference between the original and the target state is smaller than in black-to-white or white-to-black transition. That leads to slower turning of the liquid crystal molecules. At lower temperatures, this effect is even

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more pronounced. Nokia found a way to overcome this problem, using a temporary higher-voltage difference to drive each liquid crystal pixel, that is, to overdrive the panel. With overdrive-enhanced liquid crystal response, the Puremotion display pixels finish their transition well before the update of the next frame, resulting in a clearer image. Samsung Galaxy S4 GT-I9505

The Samsung Galaxy S4 has a Super AMOLED display. AMOLED (Active-Matrix Organic Light Emitting Diode) display technology is designed especially for use in mobile devices and televisions. An AMOLED display consists of an active matrix of OLED pixels that generate light upon electrical activation. Those pixels are deposited or integrated onto a thin film transistor array, which functions as a series of switches to control the current flowing to each individual pixel. Compared to LCD technology, LCDs consume only about 0.35 watts, regardless of what is shown on the screen. AMOLED displays consume 0.3 watts when showing white text on a black background, but more than 0.7 watts when showing black text on a white background. However, contrast ratios are significantly better in AMOLED displays compared to LCDs, because in AMOLED displays black pixels are actually turned off. On the other hand, AMOLED displays can be more difficult to view in direct sunlight than LCDs because of their reduced maximum brightness. Samsung wanted to solve this problem by reducing

the size of gaps between layers of the screen, so they made an AMOLED display with an integrated digitizer. That means the touchscreen is integrated with the upper glass of the display.

Figure 23 - Display Comparison

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The Lumia 920 is the only one of these three premium phones with a separate touchscreen. This solution seems to be the most expensive, if we compare displays and touchscreens.

Figure 24 - Nokia Lumia 920 Touchscreen Module

3.2 Main Camera Comparison

Figure 25 is a comparison of the main camera modules used in the Apple iPhone 5, Nokia Lumia 920, and Samsung Galaxy S4.

Figure 25 - Main Camera Comparison

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4.0 COMPARISON OF IC PACKAGE BRANDS In this final section, we take a look at the various IC packages used in these three smartphones, noting the package brands, IC cost distributions per each vendor, total manufacturing costs, and total electronic costs relative to the retail price of each smartphone.

Figure 27 - Cost Comparison of IC package Brands

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Figure 28 - Percentage of Vendor IC Cost Distribution for the iPhone 5

Figure 29 - Percentage of Vendor IC Cost Distribution for the Lumia 920

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Figure 31 shows the total manufacturing cost and electronic cost relative to the retail price of each smartphone.

Figure 31 - Cost Metrics Table

Figure 30 - Percentage of Vendor IC Cost Distribution for the Galaxy S4

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Figure 32 - Comparison of Margin to Electronic Cost and Total Manufacturing Cost

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5.0 IN REVIEW

In this report, we have taken a closer look at the major features of three of the top smartphones on the market, the Apple iPhone 5 A1428, Nokia Lumia 920, and Samsung S4 GT-I9505, based on information learned from teardowns of these devices by TechInsights. These smartphones represent the cutting edge of mobile phone technologies. Though similar in many respects, these smartphones have significant differences that set them apart from each other. Apple uses its latest iteration of the iOS, version 6, for the iPhone 5. Nokia uses Microsoft’s Windows Phone 8 as the OS for the Lumia 920, while Samsung uses the Android 4.2.2 “Jelly Bean” OS for the Galaxy S4. As for communications, the GSM and W-CDMA bands are about the same for all three phones, but the Lumia 920 lacks LTE capability. The iPhone has 700/1700 MHz LTE, while the Galaxy S4 offers the widest range of LTE bandwidths: 800/850/900/1800/2100/2600 MHZ. Connectivity is similar for all three phones, but the Lumia 920 has Bluetooth 3.0, while the other two phones offer version 4.0. The iPhone lacks NFC capability, while the other two phones do offer this very popular new feature. As for the processors used, the iPhone runs on a dual-core Apple A6 processor with 1 GB RAM. At 1.3 GHz, this is the slowest of the three processors. The Lumia 920 runs on a dual-core 1.5 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Krait processor with 1 GB RAM. The Galaxy S4 has the top offering in this category: a quad-core 1.9 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 that’s not only the fastest of the three but also offers the most RAM: 2 GB. The Lumia 920 is only available with 32 GB of internal flash memory, while the iPhone 5 and the Galaxy S4 are offered with 16 GB, 32 GB, and 64 GB, giving users more choices. The Galaxy S4 also comes with a microSD slot for up to 64 GB of additional storage. The batteries for the Lumia 920 and Galaxy S4 offer far more use time (18.6 hours and 17 hours, respectively) compared to the iPhone 5, at only 8 hours. Again, that’s a significant difference and could possibly sway some potential buyers away from the pricey iPhone. The size of their various displays and the display technologies used also set these phones apart. The iPhone has the smallest display, a 4” IPS TFT-LCD with Chip-in-Glass, though Apple claims it’s extraordinarily clear and easy to read, and many users don’t want a bigger display. The Lumia 920 has a slightly larger 4.5” IPS TFT-LCD that uses its own Puremotion HD+ technology to make it stand out from previous TFT displays. The Galaxy S4 has the largest display of the three phones, a 5” Super AMOLED, as well as the highest resolution, 1920 x 1080. As for the main cameras in these smartphones, the Galaxy S4 again takes the prize, with a 13 MP BSI CMOS. The iPhone 5 has the smallest camera, an 8 MP BSI CMOS, while that of the Lumia 920 is only slightly larger, an 8.7 MP BSI CMOS. The Galaxy S4 also comes with the smallest price tag of the three, at $629.99. That’s $170 or so less than the iPhone 5 and Lumia 920, which hover around $800 each.

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