

The iPhone 4S Costs $0.49 More to Build than the iPhone 4 - zeratul
http://www.isuppli.com/Teardowns/News/Pages/iPhone-4S-Carries-BOM-of-$188,-IHS-iSuppli-Teardown-Analysis-Reveals.aspx

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hop
When all the components and manufacturing costs are roughly estimated, it
would be better to say they cost "about the same" instead of $0.49 (a 0.25%
difference) because they really have no idea what Apple has negotiated. Their
estimate is probably +/-$50.

Also, Apple already has all the tooling in place to manufacture the body and
machine the steel band at very high volume, which a large cost not captured in
their analysis.

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a-priori
Yes, I'm highly skeptical that they are selling the 16GB model with only a $3
(1.5%) profit margin...

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ColinDabritz
Remember that the $199 price is subsidized by the 2 year contract. I believe
their cut is closer to the unsubsidized price of $599.00.

<http://store.apple.com/us/product/MC603LL/A>

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iansinke
Really, they call this Hacker News and yet a headline with a blatant disregard
for as simple a concept as relative error and significant figures makes it to
#7 on the front page? What are we coming to?

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pornel
It's not cost to build, it's cost of components only.

iSuppli reports are often sensationalized by comparing cost of components to
retail price, as if everything in between was pure profit, without regard for
cost of assembly, transport, taxes, not to mention Apple's incredible R&D and
logistics to secure supply of those components and delivery millions of units
in the first weekend.

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2muchcoffeeman
And the cost of components is probably wrong too. Who knows what discounts
they get by buying in bulk.

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joejohnson
I was looking for a reference price for the iPhone 4. It's in a separate
article:
[http://www.isuppli.com/Teardowns/News/Pages/iPhone-4-Carries...](http://www.isuppli.com/Teardowns/News/Pages/iPhone-4-Carries-
Bill-of-Materials-of-187-51-According-to-iSuppli.aspx)

