Today, Jan. 9, January 2019 is the 12-year anniversary of the day when Steve Jobs announced the original iPhone at the 2007 Macworld convention (2007). Considering the retail price of the iPhone continues to rise, in 2018 the iPhone accounted for an average of 61.8% of Apple’s revenue in the fourth quarter of 2018.
BankMyCell, a site for comparing trade-in items for tech devices, has created a visual that shows both the evolution and value comparisons of the iPhone’s technology, bill of materials costs, and retail pricing.
Using teardown estimates from HIS Markit’s benchmarking services, BankMyCell determined how much each iPhone cost to make over the last 12 years. The costs are representative of parts, and don’t account for research and development, logistics, marketing, and other general business costs. Additionally, the iPhone’s cost of manufacturing ($3.80-$8.00) per device wasn’t included, as it wasn’t available for all devices.
