The hardware components of Apple's flagship iPhone 12 Pro handset have a total cost of just $406 (roughly £304), well under half the device's consumer price tag in the US and less than a third of its UK price. This is the determination of the Japanese daily Nikkei, which did a teardown of the iPhone 12 and 12 Pro in cooperation with the research specialist Fomalhaut Techno Solutions, based in Tokyo.
The teardown, interestingly, was focused more on the origin of the components than their cost. South Korean components were found to make up almost 27% of the value of the smartphone, which represents an increase of 9.1 points on the iPhone 11, while the American components took up around 22% of the cost (down 3.9 points). This can be interpreted as an indication of the increasing importance of Asian parts suppliers for the iPhone.
The fact that an iPhone costs significantly more for the customer than its hardware components alone can be viewed in different ways. The margins for Apple when selling iPhones are certainly very high, but when calculating the final price the company has to take other factors into account, such as the complex development process, product support and related services, marketing and more.
Whether this is ultimately considered justified is another question - customers largely accept the price, and high-end devices from other manufacturers with similarly expensive components are not much cheaper either.
If you don't want to pay full price for an iPhone, check out our guide to the best iPhone deals.
This article originally appeared on Macwelt. Translation by David Price.
