3G iPhone will cost Apple less to make, study reveals
How did Apple make a 3G iPhone with GPS, yet also reduce its price? One explanation is clearly letting operators subsidise it – witness O2 UK’’s free iPhone on a £45 contract – but a report from trade site EETimes suggests Apple is also making up the shortfall with efficiencies in its touchscreen assembly and other engineering processes. However, Apple’’s profit margins have been reduced: it”ll bring in around $99 of gross profit per 8GB 3G iPhone, compared to around $229 per unit for the first model. However, the 16GB 3G model should help Apple’’s bottom line – users will pay $100 more, when the memory upgrade only costs Apple $20. Nice.
