Iphone 3GS costs the same as the 3G model
RESEARCHER Isuppli has taken the back off its shiny new Iphone 3GS, looked at all the components, added up their value, divided by its shoe size, and worked out that Apple has been squeezing its suppliers for cut down prices.
The cost of components and other other materials for Apple's latest smartphone was $172.46, Isuppli says. It would have cost $6.50 to make the gizmo and therefore the total cost is $178.96.
This is $4.63 more than the older generation Iphone 3G despite the fact it has double the memory and drive space.
Without a service contract, the Iphone 3GS costs $599, which means there is shedloads of profit for Apple on each machine.
True, most users will pay $200 for their phone with a service contract but that is because it is heavily subsidised by AT&T and most of the full price will go to Apple.
Isuppli said that other than video capture, an autofocus 3-megapixel camera, and a built-in digital compass, the hardware difference between the new and the old machine is "not much".
What is clear is that Apple has taken advantage of price erosion in the electronic component marketplace to keep the costs down, Isuppli said.
The display module and touch screen is still the most expensive thing in the Iphone, but it seems that Toshiba's 16GB multi-level cell NAND flash memory device, which costs $24 is the third most expensive component.
Samsung's ARM RISC 600MHz microprocessor is the next most expensive bit of kit, reports Information Week . µ
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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.
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.
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.