When you think about it, Apple must make a mint out of straps/bands.

[The Cockney Rebel]

I love my straps, but when you consider the cost of materials, they must cost pennies to make.

This is not a complaining post; I just wanted to get other people’s opinions.

I know there’s R&D, and in the case of brands, royalties, but the profit must be vast.

What do you reckon?

Wishing everyone well.

 

[jz0309]

I love my straps, but when you consider the cost of materials, they must cost pennies to make.

This is not a complaining post; I just wanted to get other people’s opinions.

I know there’s R&D, and in the case of brands, royalties, but the profit must be vast.

What do you reckon?

Wishing everyone well.

Yup, for sure seems they’re high margin products, Ultra bands even more…

 

[BSG75]

I'm sure there's a hefty profit margin with the straps. Garmin's straps are also expensive. However, when you look at the luxury watch brands like Rolex and Omega, those straps are very expensive. I believe an Omega nylon nato strap is about $200 USD and a Rolex bracelet seems to be in the $2K USD range.

If the Apple Link Bracelet was being sold by Rolex, Cartier, Omega, etc., it wouldn't surprise me if it ran $2,500 to $3,000 USD.

 

[The Cockney Rebel]

I’d bet they make more money from straps, than the actual watch itself.

That being said, I would only buy genuine straps, so I must be comfortable with it.

 

[Godspeed8230]

It costs's Apple about $2.05 to make a band.

The price is roughly a 23.9x markup over cost, and that's the regular $49 band.
There is of course the Apple Watch Hermès band for a whopping $449.

 

[russell_314]

I love my straps, but when you consider the cost of materials, they must cost pennies to make.

This is not a complaining post; I just wanted to get other people’s opinions.

I know there’s R&D, and in the case of brands, royalties, but the profit must be vast.

What do you reckon?

Wishing everyone well.

I suspect even after R&D, and all the other related costs, the profit percentage on watchbands is high.

I couldn’t imagine volume of sales being very high though.

 

[russell_314]

It costs's Apple about $2.05 to make a band.

That’s roughly a 23.9x markup over cost.

Wait till you find out how much the plastic in a $70 OtterBox case is worth 😂

 

[jz0309]

It costs's Apple about $2.05 to make a band.

The price is roughly a 23.9x markup over cost, and that's the regular $49 band.
There is of course the Apple Watch Hermès band for a whopping $449.

If you read that article, for one it is from 2015 and secondly it states that the cost doesn't include everything. I don't know what it costs though, it is definitely a high margin product.
The estimates do not include expenses such as packaging and shipping and may not capture the full cost of the material Apple uses to make the band, said analyst Kevin Keller of IHS.

 

[The Cockney Rebel]

If you read that article, for one it is from 2015 and secondly it states that the cost doesn't include everything. I don't know what it costs though, it is definitely a high margin product.
The estimates do not include expenses such as packaging and shipping and may not capture the full cost of the material Apple uses to make the band, said analyst Kevin Keller of IHS.

I wonder what the return/refund figures are?

That would be factored into the price.

 

[Godspeed8230]

If you read that article, for one it is from 2015 and secondly it states that the cost doesn't include everything. I don't know what it costs though, it is definitely a high margin product.
The estimates do not include expenses such as packaging and shipping and may not capture the full cost of the material Apple uses to make the band, said analyst Kevin Keller of IHS.

Packaging and shipping costs are virtually negligible for high-volume products — we’re talking just a few cents per unit. If there had been a significant increase in these costs, Apple would have adjusted its pricing accordingly

 

[Allen_Wentz]

Apple competes with the whole world at making/stocking/selling bands, so complaining about some fantasy mark-up is absurd. Anyone can simply buy a cheaper competitive product. There is no Apple lock-in on bands like there is with on-chip RAM.

Neither Apple nor third parties make any money selling multiple bands to folks like me, because I use one band forever.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

I love my straps, but when you consider the cost of materials, they must cost pennies to make.

This is not a complaining post; I just wanted to get other people’s opinions.

I know there’s R&D, and in the case of brands, royalties, but the profit must be vast.

What do you reckon?

Wishing everyone well.

That is what a profitable company does: It "makes a mint" from successful products, preferably products that cost little to manufacture, do not require much by way of R&D, let alone the cost of paying for skilled and creative staff, products for which slick yet sophisticated marketing will drive consumer demand.

 

[KENESS]

Although the profit margin for the bands is high, the total revenue from bands is probably not that high in the grand scheme.

Many people keep their band even if they get a new watch, others buy non-Apple bands. So it isn't like Apple sells 1 band for every 1 watch, or probably even close.

So I imagine they fall into the "necessary effort" category of product. In order to properly support the watch, they HAVE to produce bands as well.

Some necessary effort products actually lose money, but support a profitable primary product. I really doubt the bands lose money, but for a company like Apple, the profit they make, relative to their flagship products, is likely a pittance.

 

[Jumpthesnark]

Yes they mark up their products. They're a publicly-held company, not a watch band charity.

And there's more to the costs than materials and shipping. Ever wonder why Apple watch bands look different from the bands you can buy for a Timex at Walgreens? Because they spend time on materials research, physical design of the units (closures vary from one strap to the next), artistic designs and color palette choices, etc.

I can hardly imagine how many hours are spent designing each band, how many meetings involving so many people, designs and ideas that are thrown out, etc. It's got to be pretty crazy. But all that time - all those hours paid to employees and managers - is not free either. This is part of what goes into being Apple. They don't just make a watch and hope it sells. They make it a fashion accessory. They make sure you can have a well designed rubber (an elastomer actually) band that doesn't smell weird and bits don't rub off on your skin when you wear it to the gym, and also a Milanese loop for when you want to dress up. Also leather and stainless steel and on and on.

Apple isn't just trying to sell you a watch, they want you to feel special about owning a watch so they make sure you can personalize it. And that's another reason they can charge a lot for their watch bands - because they spent all that time engineering and designing the bands so people can have an emotional connection to their watch. Something I'd bet very very few other companies would ever think to do.

 

[mansplains]

Apple competes with the whole world at making/stocking/selling bands, so complaining about some fantasy mark-up is absurd. Anyone can simply buy a cheaper competitive product. There is no Apple lock-in on bands like there is with on-chip RAM.

Neither Apple nor third parties make any money selling multiple bands to folks like me, because I use one band forever.

Who’s complaining?

 

[RedGT]

….But they are good quality though.

I’ve had 3rd party cheaper ones and they ain’t keepers.

I don’t mind paying the Apple price, because when you put on another band it feels like a new watch almost.

 

[The Cockney Rebel]

Who’s complaining?

I was wondering the same thing.

 

[cateye]

Apple isn't just trying to sell you a watch, they want you to feel special about owning a watch so they make sure you can personalize it. And that's another reason they can charge a lot for their watch bands - because they spent all that time engineering and designing the bands so people can have an emotional connection to their watch. Something I'd bet very very few other companies would ever think to do.

I don’t disagree with you at all here, but it’s also exactly what I am referring to when I note that Apple is a bog-standard consumer electronics corporation that has wrapped itself in an outsized conceit of marketing.

People can spend their money however they wish and manufacture value in whatever combination of product or price makes sense to them, but never forget the manipulation that is marketing and Apple’s mastery of it.

First-party accessories for anything, not just Apple Watches, are almost always pure profit and priced to soak the buyer.

 

[JPack]

Was there ever any doubt? Why do you think Apple makes a ton of them in every color and shape imaginable?