iPhone Hard Costs Come in at Approximately $179.00 (US)
- June 25th, 2009 - 3.32 pm UTC
- iPhone 3GS
- dizzle
A recent teardown and analysis of the iPhone 3G S has determined that the actual hard costs for Apple to manufacture the phone total approximately $179.00 (US) for the 16GB version. Thus, it would appear, that when a customer purchases a subsidized iPhone, they are paying just over wholesale with the carrier shouldering the rest of the purchase price, which is significant indeed. Without getting into how much profit is reasonable (and the other costs such as R&D, advertising, staff incentives, etc.), this figure shows just how valuable the iPhone business is to the cellular carriers if it is worth it to them to subsidize such a large chunk and still turn a healthy profit.
Comments
_Arthur 25th June 2009, 19.00 pm
No wonder Palm Pre cannot match iPhone prices and have to resort to a $100 mail-in rebate trick…
rwahrens 26th June 2009, 12.02 pm
“Without getting into how much profit is reasonable (and the other costs such as R&D, advertising, staff incentives, etc.), this figure shows…”
This figure shows nothing. It is indicative of ONLY the hardware costs, which are only PART of the cost of Apple’s production of the iPhone. It takes overhead to fully account for their costs, after which one can then tack on the cost of manufacturing – paying the manufacturer to actually construct the dang thing (which is where the hardware costs are actually accounted for).
The REAL figure that is important is the margin – how much profit is being made, so until you can figure out what the overheads are, you are dead in the water, and the hardware costs mean nothing.
dizzle 26th June 2009, 13.19 pm
@rwahrens I fear you may be used to people jumping down Apple’s throat for “charging too much” so that you misread my words. I wasn’t talking about Apple at all, but of the value of the iPhone to carriers whether or not Apple is making more than an average profit margin. And you know what? I am not an Apple shareholder, so what they make per phone really isn’t my business. And as a capitalist I say, I hope they are making as much money as the market can support. You won’t find me complaining because they are successful.
I really have no idea why your post is so confrontational. Relax.