$320 Profit Per iPhone, Or How Apple Became The World’s Most Profitable Handset Manufacturer

Posted by Alexander Vaughn on: November 10th, 2009, 3.18 pm

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According to data from the research firm Strategy Analytics, Apple became during 2009th third quarter “the world’s most profitable handset manufacturer”. So I launched calc.app to figure out what’s their secret.

Apparently Apple made a $1.6 billion profit while Nokia only attained $1.1 billion over this quarter. For comparison, analysts of the Deutsche Bank in 2008 had already announced that in their calculations Apple was taking about 20% of the market’s profit while holding 1% of the market shares. At the time Nokia was taking about 55% of the market’s profit.

So what does it mean? Basically Apple is putting on incredibly high margins on its products. They receive approximately $550 per iPhone sold, so if Strategy Analytic’s numbers are right, $320 of this is pure profit, how do you feel about that ? Here is the famous “Apple Tax”.

Furthermore by subsidizing the handset, customers don’t even notice the margin. Those are incredible numbers, especially in such an industry. Congrats!

[via MacRumors]

6 Comments

  1. Please please write iPhones sold not Iphones sold ;-) C’mon guys, your the upper class…^^

    • Please please write “you’re” not “your” ;-) C’mon Artur, you’re the upper class speller.

  2. I think your calculations are off… Apple’s profits from the iPhone extend far beyond the initial sale of the handset.

  3. Yeah, you’re wrong. Apple makes money from the carriers: everytime you pay your monthly fee, part of it goes to Apple. That’s how the make most of the money from the iPhone division.
    It’s a well-known fact!

  4. The $550 is what Apple makes per iPhone, it includes what they receive from your carrier.

  5. Does Nokia get monthly kickbacks like Apple? Do these numbers include AppStore & iTunes purchases? In other words, is this truly an “Apples to Apples” comparison? Or is this more like “We have a map for that?” :)

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