11 replies to this topic

[carrice]

"It’s always interesting to find out exactly how much an iPhone costs to build. Now, thanks to the guys at iSuppli, we have a pretty good idea. According to the site – after doing a teardown – the components used to build the iPhone 4S come to around $188 in total, plus $8 manufacturing costs (for the 16GB model). For the 32GB and 64GB versions, we’re looking at component costs of around $207 and $245 respectively."............

WoW!!


SOURCE

Edited by bloomer, 21 October 2011 - 06:00 AM.

[Noitidart]

Wow I didn't think it would be that expensive. So is the iphone fairly priced by apple?

[iargue]

I honestly hate topics/posts/articles like these.

When Apple builds its components, it does not pay retail. Ever.

EVER

It orders 16 MILLION screens, which gets it a fucking huge discount from the price by a nice little chunk. Thus Apple pays less then 180 dollars for each one that they make. I would guess around 100 dollars or slightly more.

Bulk buying = plenty of discounts.

Wow I didn't think it would be that expensive. So is the iphone fairly priced by apple?

Did you like... read?

Let’s say you wanted to buy an unlocked iPhone 4S, the 16GB model would cost $649, netting Apple a profit of around $453 (before deducting shipping costs/staff etc.) Similarly the 32GB ($749) and 64GB ($849) models would net Apple a profit of $534 and $595 respectively.

When the profit is over 100% the manufacturing cost... its not exactly fairly priced, is it?

[Noitidart]

I honestly hate topics/posts/articles like these.

When Apple builds its components, it does not pay retail. Ever.

EVER

It orders 16 MILLION screens, which gets it a fucking huge discount from the price by a nice little chunk. Thus Apple pays less then 180 dollars for each one that they make. I would guess around 100 dollars or slightly more.

Bulk buying = plenty of discounts.

Oh wow so true. I didn't realize that!
Ok back to 500% profit then.

[MahSugah]

anyone know what happened with the white iphone last year then? took them so long for them to come out too! or was it just some marketing scheme of theirs

[iargue]

anyone know what happened with the white iphone last year then? took them so long for them to come out too! or was it just some marketing scheme of theirs

Official story = manufacturer failed to make them in time

Probably real story = Marketing scheme

[jaredennisclark]

It orders 16 MILLION screens, which gets it a fucking huge discount from the price by a nice little chunk. Thus Apple pays less then 180 dollars for each one that they make. I would guess around 100 dollars or slightly more.

Bulk buying = plenty of discounts.

If the product didn't need to be shipped after assembly then maybe your argument would have some force. You are completely forgetting about the cost of shipping overseas and the price they pay to have their advertisements in stores.

[lluvia]

My parents are getting me an iPhone 4S. Hooray.

New free phone for me (I'm using a LG Vu right now.)

[lluvia]

your going to hate the battery life
all notifications, blue tooth, etc all that crap is off.
and its 100% 8 hours later iw ake up its like 70%
it naturally sucks down somme power.
LOVE the phone though

Can't be much worse than my current phone. It used to last like a week; now it can hardly go a day and a half before it needs to be charged. And this is my second battery. It already burned through the first. XP
30% in 8 hours doesn't sound that bad. It's like as bad as my current phone but has a bajillion more features.

[iargue]

If the product didn't need to be shipped after assembly then maybe your argument would have some force. You are completely forgetting about the cost of shipping overseas and the price they pay to have their advertisements in stores.

A) The price of advertising the product should never ever be paid for by the consumer. Its their choice to market, that is their own cost
B) The price of shipping is minimal. They could probably ship over 2 million or more of them on a single ship, costing maybe a thousand dollars total. Once again you are thinking about paying retail shipping and shipping 1 single product to someone. That would cost like 30 dollars or more. Shipping a few million at once the cost total is almost nothing.

[Melchoire]

A phone that costs more than some laptops...of course it's overpriced...

[WharfRat]

A) Why shouldn't the consumer pay? The choice to market the product is just an overhead. Overheads are taken into consideration when pricing a product.
General overheads in the product;
Cost of manufacture (say $100)
Cost of shipping to the US
Cost of warehousing product
Cost of Distributing product to regional stores (people in regional areas shouldn't pay more for the same product due to their location, so this expense is integrated into the standard pricing)
Cost of
Cost of paying local staff to sell the product
Cost of running local stores; store rent, electricity bills, staff wages etc etc

Apple run a business. Businesses are designed to make money. To do so means incorporating all of the costs for a product into the final pricing + adding profit.

Of course, as a consumer you personally don't care about this, because you've never run a business or been in management, but for those of us who have been involved in management aspects of a business, yes... there are more costs then the everyday person will see or care about.

Bingo!

Besides, Apple is making most of their money on the iPhones from the cellular provider. Cellular provider pays 650/750/850 per phone (depending on memory capacity...) End user pays 199 for that 16GB build with contract extension...

Also to argue about your point of bulk buying, I am pretty sure that is included in the above cost to build. (Unless you can get Sony to sell you a single 8MP camera for $20.... then I'll retract this statement.)

The other side of this coin is that it also doesn't factor in R&D costs. (or acquisitions of small companies like Siri (which I believe cost Apple over $200 million dollars))

Bottom line; Apple is out to make a profit like any other business on earth... Duh. Considering the cost of the actual parts vs. the price the end user pays w/ 2 year contract.... I'd say it's a WIN-WIN-WIN for everyone. (Apple, Cellular service provider, and customer.)