As the iPhone X has made the biggest technological leap for Apple smartphones in several years, a new study has done the math to figure out just how much it costs to build
The United Kingdom-based analytics company IHS Markit tore apart the iPhone X to examine how much each part costs. It concluded the overall cost to construct an iPhone X at 64 gigabytes was $370.25, the most expensive in iPhone history and $75 more than its most expensive predecessor, the iPhone 8 Plus with 256 gigabytes. When compared to its direct competitor, the Samsung Galaxy S8 with 64 gigabytes of memory, the iPhone X costs $68 more to construct.
While the $370.25 bill of materials is the highest seen on an iPhone, the cost does not even represent half of iPhone X's $999 retail price. The iPhone X's $628.75 difference between the retail price and bill of materials per unit is still higher than that of the $799 iPhone 8 Plus's 64 gigabyte model and the $729 Samsung Galaxy S8.
These calculations are rudimentary and do not take into consideration engineering and research costs. Yet the increase in profit margins per unit for the iPhone X illustrates Apple's vision of creating a lucrative premium iPhone in its steady march toward potentially becoming the first publicly traded company with a $1 trillion market capitalization.