Apple iPhone 3G costs down to $173

Apple iPhone 3G costs down to $173 new of news on June 25, 2008 The cost of manufacturing Apple Inc.'s next-generation iPhone 3G will be 23% lower than the cost of manufacturing 2007's original model, according to a research firm noted for tearing apart electronics.

According to estimates by iSuppli Corp., Apple's new iPhone 3G will come with a bill of materials (BOM) and manufacturing cost of $173, nearly one-fourth less than the $226 the company spent on the first-generation 8GB iPhone, which debuted almost a year ago.

"The new iPhone is significantly less expensive to produce than the first-generation product, despite major improvements in functionality and unique usability, due to the addition of 3G communications," said Jagdish Rebello, an analyst at iSuppli, in a statement issued yesterday.

The most expensive component on iSuppli's speculative price list was the 8GB of flash memory, which it tagged at $22.80. The touch screen and display each cost $20, while the 3G chip is $15, said the company.

ISuppli's breakdown is, of course, speculative. Like other recent "tear-down" estimates of the smart phone's manufacturing cost, iSuppli's is based on information that may turn out to be incorrect. It will be more than two weeks before Apple and its carrier partners start selling the iPhone 3G.

Two weeks ago, in fact, iSuppli declined to match a rival's tear-down estimate with one of its own, saying it would instead withhold comment until it had an iPhone 3G in hand. But it changed its mind and issued a preliminary estimate, citing what it called "strong popular demand for information on iPhone costs and pricing."

Two weeks ago, iSuppli competitor Portelligent Inc. touted its own analysis -- also done without seeing an actual iPhone 3G -- that tallied the new model's costs at around $100, considerably less than iSuppli's figure. Austin, Texas-based Portelligent's number got analysts talking, with some speculating that the phone could become Apple's most profitable product.

At the time, Carl Howe, an analyst at Yankee Group Research Inc., used Portelligent's $100 estimate to question whether Apple required carrier subsidies to make money on the iPhone 3G. "If AT&T is adding in a $200 subsidy, then the iPhone 3G is anything but a phone requiring a carrier subsidy," Howe said. "In fact, if these numbers are true and the carriers are subsidizing the iPhone 3G phone, the iPhone 3G could end up being the most profitable product Apple makes."

Although iSuppli's calculation puts the iPhone 3G materials and manufacturing costs significantly higher than Portelligent's, iSuppli's Rebello also thought the carrier subsidy would be larger: around $300 per iPhone. "This means that with subsidies from carriers, Apple will be selling the 8GB version of the second-generation iPhone to carriers at an effective price of about $499 per unit, the same as the original product."

It's imperative that Apple make money on the hardware, Rebello added, since the company will not be sharing in 3G subscriber revenues. "Hardware is vital to Apple profits, valuation and revenue," he said. "Two-thirds of Apple's revenue from the iPod still is derived from hardware, while only one-third is from the iTunes service and accessories. The second-generation iPhone is no exception."

Like Howe of the Yankee Group, iSuppli thinks the iPhone 3G may be an unusually-profitable product for Apple. Earlier iPod and iPhone tear-downs have put Apple's profit margin at around 50% more than the BOM and manufacturing costs. With a $300 subsidy, however, the margin would be nearly 65%. Even with a $200-per-iPhone subsidy, Apple's estimated margin would be around 57%.

Apple will launch the iPhone 3G on July 11 in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the U.K. and the U.S. The company has also said it would make the new phone available in some 70 countries by the end of this year.

iSuppli will do a real tear-down once it gets its hands on an actual iPhone 3G, said Rebello.

Enjoy to iPhone 3G Phones

Apple iPhone 3G Review (8GB,16GB)

the Apple iPhone 3G is thinner at the edges than its predecessor, the phone measures a hair thicker (0.48 inches versus 0.46 inches) in the gut. The other measurements are the same except that it weighs just the slightest bit less (4.7 ounces versus 4.8 ounces). Otherwise, the iPhone 3G shows few cosmetic changes from the front--same display size and resolution, and the single Home button sits just below the screen. We're very pleased to see that Apple has done away with the irritating recessed headphone jack, which now is flush so that you'll be able to use any 3.5mm headphones you like.

But turn over the iPhone 3G, and you'll see more significant changes. A black, plastic skin replaces the current silver-aluminum back. The swap may cut the cost, but we worry about its long-term durability. The 8GB model will come in black only, while Apple promises the 16GB version in black and white. The white model is a bit random--we were expecting something in red--but color is a personal choice. The camera lens, volume rocker, charger port, speaker, microphone, power button, and display locking switch show no changes. Our News.com colleague got a hands-on with the new device and reports that it feels similar in the hand to the current model, with the exception of the tapered edges.

Multimedia, Web, and other good stuff
You still with me? I know this post is getting a bit lengthy, but there are just a few more highlights to note. First, the Bold includes an improved Web browser (thank goodness), with the option to view pages in a full desktop HTML style or a mobile version, and you can now more easily navigate pages with the trackball, which acts like a mouse cursor, and zoom in and out.

As for multimedia, the smartphone is equipped with a 2-megapixel camera with video-recording capabilities and up to 5x zoom. The media player also continues to support numerous audio and video formats, including MP3, WMA, AAC, DivX4, and WMV3 files, and the phone is equipped with a 3.5mm headphone jack. By the way, the Bold has some pretty powerful speakers--none of that weak, tinny junk.

Oh, and hey, what's this? It's makes calls, and sends and receives e-mails, you say? Yes, you'll still get all of the voice and messaging features of previous BlackBerrys, and the handset will also come preloaded with Dataviz's Documents to Go suite, for document viewing and editing.
just fun to use iphone 3G phones apple plan iphone 3g on July 11.

3G,What is 3G

3G that mean third generation of mobile phone standards and technology, superseding 2G, and preceding 4G. It is based on the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) family of standards under the International Mobile Telecommunications programme, IMT-2000.

The 3G technologies enable network operators to offer users a wider range of more advanced services while achieving greater network capacity through improved spectral efficiency. Services include wide area wireless voice telephony, video calls, and broadband wireless data, all in a mobile environment. Additional features also include HSPA data transmission capabilities able to deliver speeds up to 14.4Mbit/s on the downlink and 5.8Mbit/s on the uplink.

Unlike IEEE 802.11 networks, 3G networks are wide area cellular telephone networks which evolved to incorporate high-speed internet access and video telephony. IEEE 802.11 (common names Wi-Fi or WLAN) networks are short range, high-bandwidth networks primarily developed for data.