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IPhone 4 costs $188 to make

techcrunch.com

1–10 of 33 posts

Re: IPhone 4 costs $188 to make

#5
"The gyroscope chip, for example, apparently costs Apple $2.60 while it costs $2.90 in quantities of 200,000. These disparities pop up in a number of places, which, sadly, lends an air of WTF to the proceedings."

I'm not sure I understand this last statement. Should Apple not be getting a higher volume discount? I assume they're buying over 200,000 single parts.

Re: IPhone 4 costs $188 to make

#6
post #2

Does that include shipping, packaging, marketing, design, research, legal, office space, utilities, software and all the rest? Didn't think so.

According to this...no (from BW article): In 2009, iSuppli estimated that the components and materials used in the iPhone 3GS cost about $179. The materials costs on that device have since dropped to $134 as the prices of certain components have declined...

Re: IPhone 4 costs $188 to make

#8
This seems low, even compared with Apple's usual high margins. Do they bump up the standalone price to make the contract prices look better?

On the other hand it explains the iPod Touch prices which have always seemed cheap by comparison.

Re: IPhone 4 costs $188 to make

#9
post #2

Does that include shipping, packaging, marketing, design, research, legal, office space, utilities, software and all the rest? Didn't think so.

Thats not the point - this isn't an attack on Apple's pricing it's a typical industrial teardown BOM. You can get them for everything. Retail price is typically 2-4x BOM depending on how complex the product is and how long it will be in the market

It's interest to the consumer is when a cell phone company is charging you $500 for the phone AND locking you into a contract.

Re: IPhone 4 costs $188 to make

#10

"The gyroscope chip, for example, apparently costs Apple $2.60 while it costs $2.90 in quantities of 200,000. These disparities pop up in a number of places, which, sadly, lends an air of WTF to the proceedings." I'm not sure I understand this last statement. Should Apple not be getting a higher volume discount? I assume they're buying over 200,000 single parts.

Given that they've already sold 1.7 million of them I imagine they committed to at least an extra 0 on the end of that quantity number.
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