Pot meet kettle.

Apple is estimated by many to make approx 35 BILLION off of iphones this year and 42 BILLION next year. This does not include macs/macbooks... this does not include ipods...

Surely they dont need THAT much money to pay a team of engineers, buildings and salespeople for the entire company let alone just for the iphone division (which they didnt need to spend much on R&D since it's the same components as last time just with an upgraded processor and camera)... so yes... much of it is MARKUP and a huge ripoff.

Your comment displays the same ignorance as the article.

The difference between the hardware cost and the retail price is not purely "markup". Do you expect thousands of Apple engineers and designers to work for years for nothing? Are their buildings rent-free? Do they not pay for electricity and other utilities? Is their lab equipment free? What about packaging and distribution? Ongoing software updates? Warranty and technical support? Do they all cost nothing?

The cost of the hardware is less significant than the engineering, design and organizational expertise that went into collating that hardware into a product. Yes, Apple make money, but only because they make a desirable product and therefore, by definition, deserve it.

to figure out what you could get if a phone truly had components worth the cost with no markup. A $600 phone with no markup would probably be truly awesome.