Apple's iPhone SE, which is release in India today (April 8) at a price of Rs 39,000, cost the company around $160 or around Rs 10,653 to build reveals a research firm IHS.
Apple had priced the 16GB version of the iPhone SE $399 in the US, so the company appears to be making a $230 profit for the 16GB version alone. When Apple first announced the iPhone SE for India, the price was given as Rs 30,000, which was later revised to Rs 39,000.
According to the IHS teardown press statement it was revealed that "The US version of an entry-level iPhone SE with 16 gigabytes (GB) of NAND memory carries a bill of materials (BOM) of $156.20, which rises to $160.00 when the manufacturing cost is added, according to results from the IHS teardown of a phone purchased from the Apple Store on March 31, 2016."
"Apple makes approximately $89 in incremental profit for each iPhone SE 64GB sold when compared with the iPhone SE 16GB," the IHS press release further added.
It does share some iPhone 6 components including the same radio-frequency (RF) components used for LTE connectivity, Qualcomm (MDM9625) solution along with the same 1.2 megapixel secondary camera, says IHS.
IHS teardown also confirms that the iPhone SE has the same “A9 applications processor with dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) to support interactive gaming and other processor-intensive applications” as the iPhone 6s and the rear camera module.
“Apple is willing to drop its gross margin on the low end to induce sales — though it is likely counting on many consumers upgrading to the more profitable 64 gigabyte SE model,” said Wayne Lam, principal analyst, mobile devices and networks, IHS Technology. According to IHS the “costliest subsystems in the iPhone SE is its four-inch Corning Gorilla Glass display with integrated, in-cell touch sensing.” It also found an LG Display panel in the iPhone SE in this teardown.
