iPhone 6, is it worth 150-200% the price of Android high-end phones?

[tdale]

I'm a financial analyst and worked in the computer industry for many years and I can tell you that the biggest reason that electronic devices cost as much as they do is because of material costs. You ultimately get what you pay for. Apple uses Sapphire glass in it's TouchID which is expensive but they also have the most reliable ID system in the world. Apple screens respond to touch quicker than anyone else, their memory read/write speeds are faster etc. etc. This all costs money.

I came to Apple kicking and screaming because I was firmly in the "Anything but Apple" club. However, the quality problems I had with everyone else's devices is what made me give the iphone a try in 2010. From an OS perspective I value security and reliability above all else. iOS rules the roost from this standpoint.

There isn't as much profit in each iPhone as people think. When business articles speak about the "huge profit margins" that Apple has, it is in comparison to other companies who have very small margins. But it's not like Apple could drop their price by $100 and still make a decent profit.

This cost analysis is for the iPad Air 2 but it gives you some idea what the per unit profits that Apple is looking at.

http://www.perezonomics.com/1/post/...does-apple-really-make-on-the-ipad-air-2.html

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Yeah, it's one thing to constructively criticise Apple because we want to make things better but this guy, mib1800, is something else. It's like he comes to Mac Forums just to argue and he always ends up looking uninformed. He is a troll.

A good option is to not reply to any trolling, they will get bored, and head back to their forums to discuss lag, updates, etc

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Both of the articles that you quoted I am in agreement with. The thing that they both spelled out was that they are were only including production costs. They didn't go all the way down to Net Income the way I do. What they are comparing is gross margin. Distribution costs, marketing, corporate allocations, etc still all need to be deducted from their figures. And it sure isn't taking into account the R&D costs that went into developing the 6 Plus that Apple wants to recoup.

My point still stands, it's not like Apple could drop the price $100 or more and get a decent profit. A small profit but not an acceptable one to justify the capital invested.

I haven't read your articles although I know the gross margin is targeted at 40%. Marketing, R+D are pretty much fixed costs, and with Apples volume sales, I imagine they would be quite low per device, or per $ of sales. Distribution is a Variable cost, but they are high value low size products so that cost I expect will be very low per sales dollar.

Here in NZ the Galaxys have always ben about the same price as the same GB iPhone, for two months then they drop about 20%. Haters talk about the Apple Tax, overcharging, so Samsung does as well, if not more so on release.

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It is true.
However, if you take into account all the (omitted) mentioned costs and the volume of production (540.000 units/day - output rate 50% - 85%), then adding 125 USD per unit is realistic. If the logic is correct then approximately half of the price of the unit is profit.
But it is the normal practice with almost all companies in this and other fileds.

Gross Margin is 40%. Then you deduct all the costs of running the company, after production. Admin, R+D, Stores, Marketing, etc, etc, etc As you say, similar to most businesses if not less in fact.

 

[Max(IT)]

http://www.gsmarena.com/teardown_analysis_reveals_iphone_6_production_costs-news-9735.php

http://www.businessinsider.com/analysis-iphone-6-plus-costs-prices-and-profits-2014-9

Remember, this is BEFORE all the other costs that Apple must bear, like sales and marketing, staff, and distribution costs.

And please, do not quote SamsungArena .... The most biased website on the web. They are constantly downsiding any device that isn't manufactured by Samsung. Just read the iPhone 6 review to have an idea what I'm speaking about....