El Segundo, California-based iSuppli Corporation has calculated the bill of materials and manufacturing costs of the $599 8GB iPhone as $263.83, giving Apple a profit margin of nearly 56% on the device. The only difference between the $499 4GB iPhone and its more expensive 8GB sibling is the amount of NAND flash memory and the $24 less cost for 4GB compared to 8GB. By that accounting, the total comes to $239.83, putting Apple's margin at almost 52% for the cheaper model.
Infineon, a German semiconductor supplier, provided much of the core communications capabilities of the device, including the digital baseband, radio-frequency transceiver and power-management chips, said iSuppli. Infineon's parts accounted for $15.25 of the iPhone's bill of materials (6.1%) compared to Samsung's $76.25 (30.5%) of the phone's total. Samsung contributed the device's processor as well as its NAND flash memory and DRAM. Balda, a German firm, gets credit for the iPhone's touchscreen module which iSuppli priced at $27 (10.8%). The display itself costs an estimated $24.50, and comes from multiple sources, including Epson, Sharp and Toshiba Matsushita Display Technology. National Semiconductor contributed one chip, a $1.50 serial display interface.
News source: ComputerWorld
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