So while the iPhone 4S retains the usual SIM-free price point of £499 for the entry model, a new report has appeared online detailing exactly how much your shiny new iPhone would net you were you to take it apart and flog the components back to the manufacturer at factory price. Or, in other words, how much the iPhone 4S costs to build.
According to UBM TechInsights, the total cost of parts that go into your 32GB iPhone 4S is a just a smidgen over the $200 mark – $203, to be precise. That’s reportedly about the same as Apple were paying to produce last year’s iPhone 4, meaning Apple can expect about the same profit margin from its new smartphone when it goes on sale on October 14th.
The most expensive components to go into the new iPhone 4S were, not surprisingly, the Retina Display screen and the handset’s A5 processing chip, which Apple has been producing since the iPad 2 launched earlier this year. As with the component cost of the Amazon Kindle Fire, this doesn’t take into account Apple’s research and development costs, advertising costs etc. so don’t start picketing your local Apple Store just yet.
The new iPhone 4S was a bit of a mixed bag for Apple fans; simultaneously praised for the improvements it makes on the iPhone 4 (the processor, the camera etc.) and bemoaned for not being the iPhone 5 that the rumour mill promised us. Stuck on the fence over whether to pick one up? Be sure to read our two features, Apple iPhone 4S vs. Galaxy S2 vs. Sensation XE, and our discussion of which iPhone model is best for you.
Source: Cnet
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