IHS iSuppli pries apart iPhone 5 to list the original cost and suppliers

IHS iSuppli performed surgery on the iPhone 5 to take a look at the components, their estimated prices and the name of suppliers. According to the firm, the new iPhone costs Apple $207 for the whole handset.

iSuppli was quick at announcing the details of the cost per component and the vendors who provided the Cupertino-based company with them.

IHS said that the lowest denomination of the iPhone at 16 GB storage capacity costs Apple $207 dollars and is sold for $649 without a wireless contract, giving the company a profit margin of 68 percent. The profitability per handset goes up with the increase in storage capacity to as high as 72 percent.

The research firm said the previous version of the iPhone, 4S, had profit margins of 71 to 72 percent per set.

The most expensive component of the new smartphone is also the most talked about. The 4-inch LCD screen in the iPhone 5 incorporates a new technology called in-cell. It merges both touch sensors and liquid crystals into one layer making it thin and cost-effective. It costs $44 dollar to Apple and is supplied by Japan Display and LG Display.

The second most expensive component is the flash memory that is supplied by SanDisk. Other vendors are Samsung, Hynix and Toshiba. Samsung and Hynix might also be the suppliers of SDRAM that is mainly supplied by Elpida.

“The iPhone 5 exhibits a great deal of similarity to the iPhone 4S in terms of component suppliers,” IHS analyst Andrew Rassweiler said in a statement.

“But beyond this superficial resemblance, there are some critical changes to product design and parts that enable major upgrades that improve user experience. These range from the faster applications processor, to the larger display, to the high-speed 4G LTE air interface. And beyond some of the high-profile changes that bring obvious benefits in performance and features, there are myriad upgrades and enhancements to virtually every component and subsystem in the iPhone 5.”

Other major suppliers of the phone are Qualcomm, TexasInstruments, STMicroelectronics, Cirrus Logic and Avago Technologies.

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Posted by Usman Khalid on Sep 27 2012. Filed under Sci-Tech. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.