14 DAY TRIAL // Care to know how much an iPhone 5 really costs? A preliminary estimate released by UBM TechInsights reveals that Apple spends no more than $167.50 on the components that make up your $700 iPhone 5
Of course, this is just a bill of materials which doesn’t take into account all the other factors that come into play, such as research and development, testing, the salaries for the people assembling these phones over at Foxconn, and perhaps more.
But the bottom line does state $167.50 as far as the components are concerned.
Admittedly, just a preliminary estimate by analyst firm UBM TechInsights, the BOM is a lot higher compared to the one made for the iPhone 4S. $35 higher, to be precise.
The most expensive part in the iPhone 5 seems to be the A6 applications processor, which is seeing a $7 spike. The A5 in the iPhone 4S cost Apple $21. The A6 has a $28 price tag in Apple’s supply chain.
The second most expensive part is the Qualcomm chipset that gives the phone some ultra-fast wireless capabilities. It costs $25 – also $7 more than the previous solution employed by Apple in the iPhone 4S.
The new 4-inch display is also more expensive – $18 per unit (or $3 more than the 3.5-inch screen employed by the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S).
Other components include the touchscreen ($7.50), the battery ($3.00), the camera ($10), the NAND flash ($9.00), supporting materials ($4.00), and “other” suff ($38.00).
The iPhone 5’s aluminum chassis should also be quite expensive. Jony Ive and his crew worked with micron-precision to achieve the new design, which should also add some heft to the phone’s bill of materials.
TechInsights promises to have a more conclusive analysis for us on (or after) September 21, when the device becomes physically available, so they can tear it down.