iPhone margin "in excess of 55 percent"

Stephen Withers
Wednesday, 04 July 2007 02:22

Your IT - Mobility

iSuppli's teardown analysis of the iPhone reveals a hardware and manufacturing cost of $US265.83 for the 8G version priced at $US599, "generating a margin in excess of 55 percent," according to principal analyst Andrew Rassweiler.

Portelligent previously estimated the parts cost was $US220. iSuppli's public statement did not break out manufacturing costs, making it difficult to compare the two analyses. The companies' full reports are available to paying customers.

Another point of difference is that Portelligent estimated the touchscreen cost at $US60, whereas iSuppli's figure was $US51.50.

iSuppli notes that its original estimate of the parts and manufacturing cost - made in January from the limited information announced by Apple and without access to an iPhone - was $US264.85. The two numbers are impressively close to each other, but we do not know how close they are to the actual cost incurred by Apple.

iSuppli predicts 4.5 million iPhones will be shipped this year, rising to around 14 million next year. That is well above Apple's stated target of 10 million in 2008. iSuppli further predicts shipments in excess of 30 million in 2011.