The $1,000 iPhone X could have been even more expensive
Apple’s hottest new iPhone has an entry price of $999, just as we all expected, and it goes all the way up to $1,149. You can’t buy it yet, since the iPhone X doesn’t get released until November 3rd. But while you figure out how you’re going to pay for it, you should know it could easily have been even more expensive than that.
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The iPhone X components cost Apple an estimated $581, the Susquehanna International Group told The Wall Street Journal. That’s more than double the $248 bill of materials for the iPhone 7, with the Journal saying that Apple’s iPhone X profit margins seem to be slimmer than on existing lines. That suggests the iPhone X may have been even more expensive, if Apple had wanted to keep its profit margins unharmed.
There’s no way to verify the accuracy of these numbers, however, and a similar estimate from Chinese-language ichunt offers a lower estimate. According to that report, Apple pays $412.75 to make the $1,149 iPhone X version.
Regardless of which estimate is closer to the truth, it’s very likely that making an iPhone X is more expensive than manufacturing an iPhone 7 or iPhone 8. The flagship iPhone comes with a few premium features, including an OLED screen, stainless steel instead of aluminum, and a 3D facial recognition system.
The Chinese report also offers prices for the various components used in the iPhone X. The OLED screen is the most expensive, at $80. The iPhone X stainless steel frame and glass covers cost $53, while the flash memory is priced at $45 (that’s for 256GB of storage). The Face ID sensors cost $25 while the A11 Bionic chip is priced similarly at $26.
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