Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Apple releases some margin information as part of a court case. The iPhone margin was reported to vary between 49% and 58%. It's not clear if that varied over time of models. This shows the iPhone margin is much higher than on other Apple products, particularly iPads which had margins between 23% and 32%.

Apple prices iPad much more competatively. Why? Because they have to. Apple's pricing strategy is clearly US centric at this point. In the US the price of the iPhone is obfuscated by the carrier subsidy. Consumers generally aren't aware that they are shelling out $650 for the phone because they're only putting down $200 up front and the other paymentis routed through their carrier.

BTW, a 58% margin would suggest total cost to Apple would be $275 when all other expenses are taken into consideration.

The margins quoted here are almost certainly gross margin. It's the only one that makes sense when comparing Company X with Company Y. Net margin can be skewed by all manner of company/situation-specific items, especially to do with tax, debt servicing and so on...
 
These articles never take into thought of R & D costs, shipping costs, and labor costs. So now we will have 30 pages of apple is ripping people off posts

How dare we talk bad about Apple. We should be paying them 1000$ for a unit and come to the stores on our knees.
 
How much does a textbook "cost" to make? The pages, ink, binding, etc?

According to a friend of mine in the publishing industry: about $3. So why do publishing companies charge $100 or $150?

Dirty capitalists! (/sarcasm)
 
So, the 16 GB iPhone 5s costs $191 in parts and the 64 GB 5s costs $210 in parts? You can't tell me that there's a lot of extra time required to assemble a 64 GB version vs. a 16 GB version. So, Apple is paying an $19 premium for the 64 GB flash memory and charging the end-user $200 more. That is highway robbery plain and simple.

That's right, unfortunately.

That said, people are continuing to pony up for the prices Apple's charging so there's really no reason for Apple to lower the prices.

That's right, unfortunately.

I'm sure all the people complaining about the markup on 64GB model are likely overpaid for what they do from 9-5 everyday.

?? That makes no sense, unfortunately.
 
This isn't really any different than historic iPhones, or even what Samsung's internal costs are as compared to retail pricing

The S4 costs ~$240 to build, yet the 16gb model (out of contract) costs $639. They don't charge as much for memory upgrades, and their margins aren't as Big as Apple, but it is still a substantial gap.

Though the component prices in this article may not be current anymore.
http://allthingsd.com/20130508/samsung-galaxy-s4-costs-237-to-build-teardown-analysis-shows/

Remember, with both phones you also get a pile of software bundled with them too.
 
These articles never take into thought of R & D costs, shipping costs, and labor costs. So now we will have 30 pages of apple is ripping people off posts

One of the most incredible things that I learnt from an article on here recently is that if they fill a FedEx plane with iPhones it only costs them the equivalent of 50cents each to get the phones from China to the US!
 
No mention of the difference in cost between the plastic case and the metal one? The general assumption is that the switch to plastic was motivated by significant savings over the previous metal version. If that's not the case then it's hard to understand why they bothered, particularly a switch that many people are assuming is a cheaper build.
 
The day that Apple changes it's pricing structure for additional storage, including possibly cutting the cost of the increases, is the day that consumers give clear and consistent feedback that storage costs are the number one issue with the iPhone, and furthermore consumers vote with their wallet and start to buy other manufacturer's phones as a result.
Since that is not happening, Apple will continue to charge what it can get away with for iPhone storage. It's called capitalism.

Does anybody know the cost of the paint and canvas that is used to paint a masterpiece? A bit extreme but you get my drift...
 
Sigh

What I don't understand is the $19 cost difference between the 16GB and 64GB, and the $200 price difference. Same R&D, shipping, labor, marketing, etc. costs there.

Didn't take a business class in college, did you?
 
These articles never take into thought of R & D costs, shipping costs, and labor costs. So now we will have 30 pages of apple is ripping people off posts

You and MacRumors got immediately defensive. MacRumors adding words suck as "Numerous other cost," and going on with a long list, when it seemed that they could have just mentioned that it doesn't include other manufacturing cost.

R&D and numerous other stuff goes into making other phones, and video games system even sell at a loss to make it up later. But Apple margins are so much higher than the others. And I applaud Apple for that, because it's the smart thing to do. They can make doo doo and people are still going to buy it. I don't remember for which computer it was, but they were selling Core 2 Duos at full price over a year and a half after Core i7 came out. Bottom line, people are not knowledgeable.
 
Let's do some quick math here, and let's assume it costs the same to make each model, and assume all are 64GB. And assume no other payouts are being done for R&D, shipping, labour, etc.

For the first weekend of its release:

$199 * 5,000,000 = $995,000,000

$649 * 5,000,000 = $3,245,000,000

$3,245,000,000 - $995,000,000 = $2,250,000,000

Assuming all 64GB, Apple banked 2.25 billion over opening weekend alone for a 64GB 5s.

Holy smeg.

BL.

This makes fuzzy math look 6th level sigma by comparison.
 
These articles never take into thought of R & D costs, shipping costs, and labor costs. So now we will have 30 pages of apple is ripping people off posts

Article says cost of assembly is $8. R&D is a factor worth considering; plus, Apple's customer service is unmatched. They also leave out the headphones and wires, which are probably in the low single dollars, and the cost for packaging, which is low, but Apple makes an art out if it; then there's the operating system, which may be free on Android, but Apple's is always up to date---you're largely paying for the experience/reliability.
 
No mention of the difference in cost between the plastic case and the metal one? The general assumption is that the switch to plastic was motivated by significant savings over the previous metal version.

Shocking that the general assumption could be wrong. :)

If that's not the case then it's hard to understand why they bothered, particularly a switch that many people are assuming is a cheaper build.

Not really. They provided an explanation. Better colors.

And I'd guess it's a whole lot easier to manufacture quickly. :) Plus, they can move the specialized equipment for the aluminum case to 5S production.
 
Even if it was built for $99 i would still pay asking price.

Arguably best phone on market

Arguably best retail experience

Arguably best after sales experience

Arguably best cloud integration

Arguably best app support and availability

So everything that matters they are arguably the best. You get what you pay for, not just the physical object you hold.

R&D costs and of course marketing costs
 
Let's do some quick math here, and let's assume it costs the same to make each model, and assume all are 64GB. And assume no other payouts are being done for R&D, shipping, labour, etc.

For the first weekend of its release:

$199 * 5,000,000 = $995,000,000

$649 * 5,000,000 = $3,245,000,000

$3,245,000,000 - $995,000,000 = $2,250,000,000

Assuming all 64GB, Apple banked 2.25 billion over opening weekend alone for a 64GB 5s.

Holy smeg.

BL.

Except it does not work that way.
 
Was the original iPhone not £269 unsubsidised in the UK? While the specs and storage have increased over the years, I think profits have increased more.
 
Cost of components $199....idea = priceless. This topic generates misleading conclusions of how greedy companies are.
Try it on your own and get profit margin ;)...or better; buy components and assemble it yourself.
 
Sure, but Apple do rip us off respect storage:

"$191 on components to build a 16 gigabyte iPhone 5s. The cost rises to $210 for a 64GB unit"

They charge $200 for something that costs them $19, that's quite a profit they make there

Apple doesn't make $200 more on the 64GB unit. When a product sells for $650, the manufacturer doesn't get paid $650 for that product. For example, Walmart is not selling products for manufacturers for free.
 
The cost of labor is pretty negligible. A group of several workers makes tens if not hundreds of phones an hour.

There are costs of doing business: contracting manufacturers, the tools needed to assemble (not to mention updating them and maintaining them); paying a premium price for a reliable assembler line like Foxconn---the cost of secrecy has longterm benefits (yes, and it gives a reason for MR)...etc.
 
It's always worth mentioning. Apple does not profit $451 per device.

The component cost is only a fraction considering R&D ...

Not only R&D. The manufacturing tooling (including pre-payments for expanding display and semiconductor fabs, & etc.) requires $Billions in investment.

Sure, but Apple do rip us off respect storage:...

Apple can't rip you (or anyone else) off unless you voluntarily give them your credit card. If anybody thinks the memory isn't worth it, they can just keep their money in their pocket. It's called willpower.

I get the extra storage because it's far far cheaper for me to do that, than to find and spend $Billions for the tooling needed to make my own smartphone.
 
Was the original iPhone not £269 unsubsidised in the UK? While the specs and storage have increased over the years, I think profits have increased more.

Profits have increased because they sell more iPhones. Margins have actually decreased.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.