Undoubtedly, Apple’s iPhone 5, unveiled on September 12, is one of the most desired phones in the U.S. Though the phone will be shipped from September 21, its pre-order sold out within an hour. Operators are selling iPhone 5 with contract from $199 to $399. The unlocked version of iPhone 5 16GB is priced at $649. But, what is the real cost of manufacturing an iPhone 5?
Driven by the new A6 processor, LTE 4G high-speed modem and Retina display with in-cell touch technology, the new iPhone 5 is estimated to cost $167.50 in materials alone for the entry-level 16-gigabyte model.
UBM TechInsights revealed a report on the manufacturing cost of iPhone 5. According to the report, Apple spent $28 to build powerful A6 chip, $25 for the new 4G LTE modem from Qualcomm, $18 for 4-inch display, $17 for the non-electric materials, $10 for the 8-megapixel camera with 1080p video, $9 for the NAND flash, $7.50 for the touchscreen and cover glass, $4 for the SDRAM, $4 for the Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and GPS chip, $4 for the supporting materials, $3 for the 1,400 mAh battery and $38 for others. In total, Apple spent $167.50 to manufacture the 16GB iPhone 5.
According to the above chart, Apple spent $112 for the 16GB iPhone 4 and $132.5 for the 16GB iPhone 4S. That means, the increase in iPhone 5 manufacturing cost may shed Apple’s profit from hardware sales in coming days.
Source : UBM TechInsights
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