Analyst Turley Muller shows

Jul 30, 2009 11:27 GMT  ·  By

Cupertino-based Apple is reportedly earning a lot from each sold unit of its iconic iPhone handset, namely somewhere around 60 percent. Given this high gross margin, the company can easily lower the price of other products it has on the market, while maintaining its bottom line at the same level. The iPhone sees great traction on the market, and it seems that the $199 and $299 iPhone 3GS models are the ones that users are mostly looking for, and not the $99 variant.

The calculations on how much profit Apple sees on the iPhone have been made by analyst Turley Muller, who published the estimations on his blog, Financial Alchemist. According to him, AT&T is almost buying the iPhone for its customers. While they are paying $99 to $299 for the handset, AT&T adds $375 into the equation, which means that Apple receives somewhere between $474 to $674 for each iPhone that is sold to end-users.

While explaining how AT&T offers the feature-packed device to its users for such a low price tag, Muller also shows that Apple’s profit ranges from 57.8 to 59.6 percent on the handset (32GB iPhone 3GS carries the most profitable 59.6 percent margin). “Going forward Apple will recognize higher iPhone revenue carrying a higher gross margin,” Muller writes. “As iPhone revenue as a percentage or share of total revenue increases, the impact of the higher iPhone (gross margin) on overall (gross margin) will intensify. This will assuage margin pressures Apple faces in other areas.”

Muller also shows that Apple can easily lower the prices of its Mac lineup, while the overall (gross margins) will remain the same. Moreover, it seems that the operated price cuts will not affect the company's gross margin in the future either, as Muller notes. “Going forward, Apple is guiding Q4 GM to 34%, suggesting GM in the 36%-38% range, thus there doesn't appear that these price reductions will have a dramatic impact on its overall GM.” Considering the fact that he managed to forecast with the greatest accuracy Apple's earnings per share during recent quarters, Muller's estimations should be taken for granted.

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Apple to see a 60% profit on the iPhone
Apple to see a 60% profit on the iPhone
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