bsoft
join:2004-03-28
Boulder, CO | reply to dynodb
Re: The real question is... said by dynodb:If you believe that it costs no more than $50 to make an iphone, it's probably time to adjust your meds. Even if that were the case, the manufacturing cost is irrelevant, as it'll always be lower than the wholesale cost. Well, it's impossible to estimate exactly how much the iPhone costs to manufacture, and exactly what it would be priced at if it were sold only as an unlocked device.
However, the 32GB iPod Touch runs $300; even if we add in $100 for the GSM/UMTS chipset, camera, and GPS (there are unlocked phones for under $100 retail that contain all of these) we're looking at around $400. Which, incidentally, is what Apple charged fro the iPhone when it was unsubsidized.
A reasonable price for the 32GB iPhone 3Gs should be around $400, although as you point out it's not costs that set prices (that said, Apple would certainly be making a healthy profit at $400, at least as much as they make on the iPod Touch).
Considering that the subsidized price for the 32GB iPhone 3Gs is $300, we can conclude that the subsidy is worth about $100. |
