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iPhone 4S Component Costs Once Again Begin at About $188

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Apr 12, 2001
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isuppli_iphone_4s_teardown.jpg
AllThingsD reports on IHS iSuppli's teardown analysis of the iPhone 4S, with an eye toward estimating the cost of components included in the device. Based on iSuppli's analysis, the 16 GB iPhone 4S carries a bill of materials cost of about $188, in line with that of the GSM iPhone 4 at launch.
In the case of the iPhone 4S, [IHS iSuppli analyst Andrew] Rassweiler estimates that the BOM cost ranges from $188 for the 16 gigabyte version of the iPhone 4S to $207 for the 32GB version and $245 for the 64GB version. Apple and its carrier partners sell the phones for $199, $299 and $399 respectively, typically with a two-year contract for wireless service that carriers use to subsidize the cost they pay Apple.
Click to expand...
While we've already seen a couple of iPhone 4S teardowns from iFixit and Chipworks, IHS iSuppli highlights a few new items of note.

- A noise cancellation chip from Audience that had been included in the iPhone 4 is not found in the iPhone 4S, suggesting that the noise cancellation functions may have been incorporated directly into the main A5 system-on-a-chip. IHS iSuppli estimates that the A5 chip, which continues to be manufactured by Samsung, costs Apple about $15.

- While iFixit found Toshiba flash memory in its iPhone 4S unit, IHS iSuppli expressed some surprise at finding Hynix memory in its unit. Apple has, however, sourced flash memory for various devices from Hynix for many years, although the company's products have apparently not been seen in recent iPhone models. But with flash memory being a relative commodity in the hardware market, Apple typically sources the chips from a variety of vendors based on pricing and volume requirements.

- IHS iSuppli was unable to determine the manufacturer of the iPhone 4S camera module, as the part contained no identifying information printed on it. Chipworks had determined in its teardown that the camera sensor was made by Sony, but it is unclear if Sony is splitting sensor production loads with Apple's longtime partner OmniVision. Regardless, IHS iSuppli estimates the cost of the camera module at $17.60.

isuppli_iphone_4s_component_costs.jpg
Component costs for Apple's entry-level iPhones have typically come in between $170 and $190, offering the company a hefty margin when the $199 purchase price and extensive carrier subsidies are accounted for. But it is important to note that bill of materials cost estimates account only for the cost of the individual hardware components used in the device. The estimates do not include other costs involved in product development, manufacturing, and sales, such as research and development, software, patent licenses, marketing, and distribution expenditures.

Article Link: iPhone 4S Component Costs Once Again Begin at About $188
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2011/10/20/iphone-4s-component-costs-once-again-begin-at-about-188/
dgree03

dgree03

macrumors 65816
Jan 8, 2009
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They make a almost $461 dollars on ONE 16gb 4s? Wholly *****! :eek:

$542 on 32gb

$604 on 64gb
 
N

ndpitch

macrumors 6502
Jun 9, 2010
278
24
dgree03 said:
They make a almost $461 dollars on ONE 16gb 4s? Wholly *****! :eek:

$542 on 32gb

$604 on 64gb
Click to expand...


No, Apple also has to pay the manufacturers to build it. They have to pay for all the advertising and marketing that's gone into it. They also have to pay for the initial research, development, testing, etc.

There are much more costs involved than just the parts to make it.
 
rdowns

rdowns

macrumors Penryn
Jul 11, 2003
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dgree03 said:
They make a almost $461 dollars on ONE 16gb 4s? Wholly *****! :eek:

$542 on 32gb

$604 on 64gb
Click to expand...


Uh, no. This is simply the cost of parts. It doesn't include manufacturing costs, patent/royalty costs, marketing, R&D, packaging etc.
 
C

claus1225

macrumors member
May 25, 2009
97
2
I think you need to add in software cost. I dont think it's cheap to develop siri.

that's $100 bucks there.
 
J

Judas1

macrumors 6502a
Aug 4, 2011
794
42
There's not that much more cost of the 4s than the components cost, because the 4s is the 4 with a few components upgrade. If Apple can make phones that are affordable, why jack up the price so much forcing us to get subsidized phones from carriers?:mad: Nobody wants a locked down phone.
 
wrinkster22

wrinkster22

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Jun 11, 2011
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Kissaragi said:
Not to mention R&D, shipping, advertising, software development, etc, etc, etc.
Click to expand...

claus1225 said:
I think you need to add in software cost. I dont think it's cheap to develop siri.

that's $100 bucks there.
Click to expand...

Exactly, Scot forestal and friends are not working for Free. IOS5 must have been expensive to engineer as well as Siri. Also buying the original application Siri. Shipping is probably not that much for them like 10$ but advertising... oh boy.
 
JRoDDz

JRoDDz

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Jul 2, 2009
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Judas1 said:
There's not that much more cost of the 4s than the components cost, because the 4s is the 4 with a few components upgrade. If Apple can make phones that are affordable, why jack up the price so much forcing us to get subsidized phones from carriers?:mad: Nobody wants a locked down phone.
Click to expand...

How about you purchase all the parts yourself, and assemble it yourself, and write your own operating system and apps? See how much that's going to cost you.
 
J

Judas1

macrumors 6502a
Aug 4, 2011
794
42
wrinkster22 said:
Exactly, Scot forestal and friends are not working for Free. IOS5 must have been expensive to engineer as well as Siri. Also buying the original application Siri. Shipping is probably not that much for them like 10$ but advertising... oh boy.
Click to expand...
The only tech that doesn't go down in price over time is Apple tech. That because people will pay the high cost and even thank Apple.

zionicion said:
That isn't a very good margin at all. Most companies aim for an 8-10x margin, not 3.
Click to expand...
Umm...thats absolutely incorrect. Most companies, especially those that have very high volume, aim for very low margins.

----------
JRoDDz said:
How about you purchase all the parts yourself, and assemble it yourself, and write your own operating system and apps? See how much that's going to cost you.
Click to expand...
Just saying, they didn't need a new facility to manufacture that 4s. And ios is great and it do cost money. But you already paid for most of the cost when you bought the iphone 4 with ios4. What you're getting is an improved ios5, not something that came from scratch.
 
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M

milo

macrumors 604
Sep 23, 2003
6,891
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Judas1 said:
The only tech that doesn't go down in price over time is Apple tech.
Click to expand...

Right now the 3GS is free...the notion that it didn't go down in price is pretty easy to disprove.

And yeah, the new models cost the same as the old ones did when they were new, but that's true of any technology where the prices are going down AND newer better tech is appearing at those higher price points. Look at the newly announced android phones, at $299 with contract are the new droid and nexus cheaper than the previous top of the line phones?
 
J

jelew1985

macrumors member
May 12, 2011
54
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Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; U; Android 2.2.2; en-us; SPH-M920 Build/FROYO) AppleWebKit/533.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile Safari/533.1)

I would imagine the rest of the cost is going towards r&d, payroll, contracts, and so forth. So apple may not be making as much as everyone thinks.
 
M7ck

M7ck

macrumors member
Dec 6, 2010
35
2
Glasgow
When you factor in the costs for manufacturing, logistics, software, packaging, sales team, warranty and advertising, I still say that the iPhone 4s represents value for money.
 
B

burjeffton

macrumors newbie
Oct 18, 2011
10
0
These component cost analysis articles are ridiculous. Let's point out some obvious omissions:

1. Apple has to order these parts in the MILLIONS to get this pricing
2. No cost of software development or installation is mentioned
3. No cost of packaging or shipment destination charges included
4. No cost for assembly included in these estimates
5. No cost for DC warehousing included


That doesn't even start to include paying the tens of thousands of employees a salary, paying for retail space, marketing the product, etc.
 
iChrist

iChrist

macrumors 65816
Sep 7, 2011
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Wow

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Wow, people who buy 32gb and especially 64gb are not smart. They pay $100 or $200 more for same phone but extra memory only cost like $10. These peoples not good at math apparently and buy rip off model. Ha. :eek::confused::apple:
 
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