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Teardowns undress iPhone, suggest $200-$265 component cost
Teardowns by iSuppli, Portelligent, iFixit, and iResQ have revealed much about the inner workings of the iPhone. As reported by BusinessWeek, Portelligent estimates the component cost for the phone to be in the $200-$220 range, with iSuppli’s estimate of $265.83 in cost for the 8GB model slightly higher. iResQ’s teardown offers a look at the interior of the iPhone, but it doesn’t offer details of components and their manufacturers. iFixit did list some components, including Samsung ARM and memory, a Wolfson audio chip, a Marvell Wi-Fi chip, a Skyworks GSM/EDGE power amplifier, and more. Absent from their teardown was pricing information for the components, which both iSuppli and Portelligent provide.
iSuppli and Portelligent list German company Balda as the supplier for the phone’s touch-screen, with pricing estimated at $55-$60. iSuppli claims that Samsung, with its memory, ARM chip, and DRAM, was the biggest winner among iPhone component suppliers, with an estimated $76.25, or 30.5 percent, of the product’s hardware costs. Although exact costs of the the components may never be known, and although these estimates don’t include promotion or logistic costs, it is apparent from these reports that Apple — and possibly AT&T — are seeing wide margins on the iPhone.
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1
And hey, let’s not forget software development and prototyping costs, considering these are really what Apple *does*. Any idiot can stick together a bunch of silicon—many of these idiots work at LG, Samsung and Motorola.
Posted by dasmb on July 3, 2007 at 9:09 AM (PDT)
2
“it is apparent from these reports that Apple — and possibly AT&T — are seeing wide margins on the iPhone”
In other news, the sun rose this morning, the sky is blue, and 50% of all sports teams won their games yesterday.
Posted by Doctor Mantis on July 3, 2007 at 10:07 AM (PDT)
3
That was funny Doc.
Posted by Jacob Anderson on July 3, 2007 at 10:51 AM (PDT)
4
Pfft. Apple is only in this for a profit. The iPhone should be free, dammit. Just like my welfare check and my 14 illegitimate children.
Posted by Sears Manager on July 3, 2007 at 2:19 PM (PDT)
5
Things not included in this price:
Industrial Design.
Prototyping
QA
Tech Support
Retail salaries
packaging
marketing
shipping
Software developement
graphic design for all the pretty buttons
sound design for ring tones.
Redesign of Itunes on both mac and windows platforms.
and many other things.
The question isn’t how much they make off each unit. It’s what the break even point is. How many units have to be sold to cover developement costs.
Posted by Martin on July 3, 2007 at 5:07 PM (PDT)
6
I just hope that all the R&D that went into the iphone leads to ipods with similar UI’s… AND SOON! fingers crossed.
Posted by Jacob Anderson on July 4, 2007 at 9:31 AM (PDT)