iSuppli recently released their iPhone 4 teardown, providing insight on costs for each component.
The total costs of components for the 16GB iPhone 4 model is estimated at about $188. As you would have guessed, the Retina display was the most expensive piece of the puzzle. Supposedly, this wondrous and revolutionary component costs Apple a mere $29 each. The gyroscope, which is a new addition to the iPhone line, is calculated to cost less than $3 per unit.
In comparison, iSuppli estimated the 16GB iPhone 3GS components cost $179 when it was released last year. Re-evaluation of the 3GS has shown the cost dropping to about $134 in component costs. While it's normal for component costs to drop as manufacturing gets easier and availability increases, it's yet unknown if the analysis was of the current 8GB offering or a re-evaluation of the 16GB.
These price estimates are strictly of bare cost per component per unit. Apple doesn't release the added expense numbers of development, testing, prototype manufacturing, licensing, assembly, etc. We also don't know what AT&T pays Apple per iPhone, but experts guess it's somewhere around the "early upgrade" price, which is about $200 less than the fully unsubsidized "no commitment" price tag.
[via MobileCrunch; image via iFixit]
