Teardown Finds iPhone 5 Costs Apple About the Same As Did 4S

Nerval's Lobster writes "A physical teardown of the iPhone 5 by IHS iSuppli reveals that Apple has managed to keep its materials and manufacturing costs roughly in line with that of the iPhone 4S. The firm estimated the Bill of Materials for the iPhone 5's low-end variant at $199.00, rising to $207.00 once manufacturing costs are entered into the equation. It tallied the BOM for the 32GB version at $209.00 (or $217 with manufacturing) and the 64GB one at $230.00 (rising slightly to $238 with those manufacturing costs). Compare that to the BOM for the iPhone 4S, which IHS iSuppli estimated at $188 for the 16GB version (rising to $196 with manufacturing costs added in), $207 for the 32GB version ($215 with manufacturing) and $245 for the 64GB version ($254 with manufacturing)." Reader redkemper writes with another kind of comparison of the newest iPhone to its predecessor: "Apple didn't spend too much time talking about the iSight camera at the iPhone 5s unveil event because it's mostly the same as the one found in the iPhone 4S. Thankfully, iMore grabbed an iPhone 5 and iPhone 4S and did a fantastic shoot-out between the two device's rear cameras. [The new camera] just barely edges out the iPhone 4S's year-old camera."

Comments

Re:all flagship phones cost about this much

[gnasher719]

i read these and almost every flagship from from every manufacturer is in the $180 to $200 range. Apple's bill of materials tends to be a little higher most times but their margins are also higher because they make one phone for all around the world. iphone 5 and LTE is an exception with different models supporting different frequencies around the world

And what all these children don't seem to realise is that the $180 to $200 Bill of Materials gives you a bag full of parts somewhere in a container near a manufacturing plant in China. If they saw the Bill of Materials for a pair of shoes, or some jeans, or a hamburger at McDonald's, they would faint.