We know how much it costs to buy an iPhone 5 with and without contract because that’s how much we are paying, but how much does it cost Apple for the legendary smartphone? Well UBM TechInsights has provided a breakdown of each part in the iPhone 5 and tallied it up to $167.50 for materials alone.
You can see, in the chart above, the features and parts of the newest iPhone compared to that of its past two predecessors. These are estimates for the iPhone 5 since it has yet to be released, but UBM has a fairly good track record with these things. Apple clearly did not hold back on these parts, with a nearly $30 processor put in each one of its new smartphones and $25 LTE modem; that means over $50 of the parts are for making the phone faster. The Retina display also increased in price along with size, however they have managed to keep the price of the camera the same as before even though it has been re-sized and covered with sapphire.
The iPhone 4 was shown as costing $112 and the 4S an incremental raise to $132.50; then the iPhone 5 shot the cost up its current standard. Yet Apple maintains charging it for the same price as they have had for the longest time: $199 for 16GB, $299 for 32GB, and $399 for 64GB with contract. Without a contract, the entry-level iPhone is $649, still this incredible for the amount of technology and custom manufacturing that goes into creating the wonderful device. Apple knows there would be somewhat of a riot if they were to ever seriously raise the price of this smartphone, so it does its best to keep build costs low and maintains a very decent profit overall.
Apple is not only full of tech geniuses but production geniuses as well. Do you think $199 is still too much for such a hyped about smartphone or would you even be willing to pay more for the latest mobile technology? Let us know in the comments below.
