iPhone teardown: $200-220 build cost
updated 03:00 pm EDT, Mon July 2, 2007
iPhone teardown
A teardown of Apple's iPhone by Austin-based Portelligent reveals a likely manufacturing cost of $200 for the 4GB model and $220 for the more expensive 8GB version, signaling extremely high margins for the Cupertino-based company which has already sold more than half a million units, according to one analyst. The iPhone includes a main microprocessor with an ARM core design and NAND flash storage from Samsung, NXP with another chip sporting an ARM core design, and power management chips from Philips, Texas Instruments, and Linear Technology, according to BusinessWeek.
Chips from Infineon, Skyworks, RF Micro Devices, and Marvell Technology supply the iPhone's wireless capabilities while other chips from Cambridge Silicon Radio enable the handset to connect to wireless headsets. The iPhone's chip that senses motion, which is called an accelerometer, is supplied by STMicroelectronics. Display chips are supplied by National Semiconductor, Broadcom, and NXP. The 2-megapixel camera mounted on the back of the iPhone is powered by an imaging chip from Micron Technology.
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Aug 2001
Ah..
But they aren't including in that the "three years in the making" R&D costs. Nor all the costs associated with various legal battles to keep it from leaking to the public (because, up until January, no one even came close to imagining a cell phone from apple!).