iPhone XS Max component costs revealed

The folks over at TechInsights have been doing some digging into the individual component costs for the iPhone XS Max 256GB model, which early sales suggest is proving to be the pick among consumers. As you might expect, the monster Samsung-supplied OLED display is one of the single most expensive components in the device at US$80.50 each, helping to tip the overall raw component cost of the iPhone XS Max to US$443. The device, of course, retails for a whopping US$1299, or up to US$1499 for the 512GB variant.

Other significant component costs in the iPhone XS Max include the A12 Bionic chip and modems, which come in at US$72. Flash storage costs US$64 while the “surgical grade steel” housing costs US$58. The camera modules total US$44. It is not entirely clear exactly how much net profit Apple makes on each iPhone XS it sells, as we don’t know how much Apple spends on research and development, marketing and so on. Needless to say, it is still taking a healthy slice of the US$1299 cost to consumers.

As a point of comparison, the iPhone 6 Plus from 2014 tipped the scales at US$247 in raw components (not accounting for inflation). This goes some way to explaining the sky-high prices that Apple is charging consumers for the iPhone XS Max, which is costing Apple around US$200 more per device to make. The one figure that has, however, generally remained unchanged is the gross margin that Apple makes off each flagship iPhone sale, which is between 60 to 70 percent. Hence, why Apple continues to make money hand-over-fist.

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