BoM analysis of the Apple iPhone 15 (Plus) and iPhone 15 Pro (Max) reveals significantly higher production costs

The Apple iPhone 15 (just under US$730 at Best Buy) costs Apple US$423 to produce, which is 16% more than the iPhone 14, according to a "Bill of Materials" (BoM) analysis by Nikkei, which puts Apple's gross margin at 47% compared to the list price in the US. As usual, a BoM analysis does not take into account any costs associated with developing, supporting or distributing a product.

The iPhone 15 Plus costs US$442 to produce, 10% more than its direct predecessor. For the iPhone 15 Pro, costs have risen by 8% to US$523, and for the iPhone 15 Pro Max by 12% to US$558. Dollar. Apple also has the largest margin of 53.5% for the top model this year, and the margin is likely to be even larger for variants with more flash memory. These figures refers to models with the smallest possible storage, i.e. 128 GB for the three cheaper iPhone 15 models and 256 GB for the top model.

The titanium frame of the iPhone 15 Pro Max costs Apple US$50, meaning that costs for the casing have increased by 43%. Apple purchases the display from Samsung for US$115, a 10% price increase. The Apple A17 Pro costs the iPhone manufacturer 27% more than the A16 Bionic, i.e. US$130, primarily due to the advanced 3 nm production process at TSMC. In fact, the brand new periscope telephoto camera costs almost four times as much as the telephoto camera of the iPhone 14 Pro Max, namely US$30, at least according to Nikkei's estimate.