We all know Apple has a big profit margin on all of their devices and thanks to market research firm IHS iSuppli, we now know how much Apple pays for manufacturing the iPhone 5. The 16GB version of the recently launched mobile phone costs $207, which is $442 less than the retail price without a contract. The 32GB and 64GB cost $217 and $238 respectively.
Only the first iPhone was more expensive to build, carrying a bill of materials of $246. That price steadily declined to $188 for the base model iPhone 4S. The components of the iPhone 5 are slightly more expensive than those of its predecessor. The latest iPhone offers a bigger screen with in-cell touch sensing and supports 4G LTE, which accounts for the increased materials costs.
The only component to cost less is the NAND flash storage at $10.40 compared to the iPhone 4S at $19.20. According to senior principal analyst Andrew Rassweiler, Apple is the largest buyer of NAND flash storage in the world and the company therefore gets preferential pricing.
Advertising costs were not a part of the calculation, as well as licensing fees, royalties and software development costs.
