Teardown: Kinect Xbox 360 add on has PrimeSense, Marvell, TI, ST parts

The BOM of the Kinect motion-gaming add on for Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox 360 gaming platform costs about $56, according to a teardown by UBM TechInsights, with chips coming from PrimeSense, Marvell, TI and STMicroelectronics.

"Basically, the strength of the design is the huge design win for the Israeli fabless company PrimeSense," said Allan Yogasingam, a technical marketing manager at UBM TechInsights. "They've provided the most innovative portion of the Kinect with their image processor, audio and video interface."

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Kinect front sensor (Click on image to enlarge.)

The Kinect includes four audio microphones on the front console that pinpoint where a user is standing by auditory projection, according to the analysis. It detects motion using an IR camera, a 32-bit color VGA resolution RGB image sensor and one monochrome 16-bit QVGA image sensor.

"The future applications of this technology could be fascinating," Yogasingam said. "I can see this being incorporated into televisions—allowing users to change the channel by waving their hand, essentially replacing the remote control."

Of the roughly $56 BOM, about $17 is attributed to the cost of the PrimeSense reference system, including the cameras, microphones and processor, UBM TechInsights said. Microsoft is planning to retail the Kinect

system for $149, and stands to make a healthy profit on each unit, UBM TechInsights noted.