Counterpoint Research published a new report today on “mixed bill of materials,”” or BoM, cost of Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max. This report shows how much it costs Apple to produce each iPhone. According to this report, the high-end model costs Apple 8% more this year than the iPhone 14 Pro Max.
It costs $502 to make an iPhone 15 Pro Max
The report clarifies that Apple spends about $502 on creating a base iPhone 15 Pro Max model with 256 GB of internal memory. That's $37.70 (or 8%) more than the 256GB iPhone 14 Pro Max cost when it launched last year. For comparison, the cost of the BoM 14 Pro Max was only 3% more expensive than that of the 13 Pro Max.
But what exactly makes the iPhone 15 Pro Max more expensive than its predecessors? In short, it's the 3nm A17 Pro chip, a new tetraprismatic lens with 5x optical zoom and a titanium frame.
The A17 Pro is the first chip built using a 3nm process, making it even more more perfect. powerful and energy efficient. TSMC was not expected to ship the first 3nm chips until 2024. However, Apple has struck an exclusive deal with the semiconductor company to get new 3nm chips for the iPhone 15 Pro this year.
However, this results in the A17 Pro chip costing $30 more than the A16 Bionic chip. used in the iPhone 14 Pro and now the regular iPhone 15.
iPhone 15 Pro Max is the only model in this year's lineup to feature a new telephoto lens that delivers 5x optical zoom using an advanced tetraprism system. As you'd expect, it also costs a lot more than a regular telephoto lens. More precisely, $25.1 more than the zoom lens on the iPhone 14 Pro Max.
Replacing the stainless steel frame with a new titanium one also cost Apple more. Counterpoint Research notes that the new titanium alloy costs $7 more than the previous one. At the same time, Apple saved some money on RAM, NAND flash and display as those components became cheaper this year.
Most profitable iPhone
Interestingly, despite rising production costs and the fact that the iPhone 15 Pro Max is the most expensive to produce, it is still the model with the highest profitability in the world. this year's lineup. It's worth noting that Apple has decided to drop the 128GB version, raising the starting price to $1,199 for the 256GB version.
The report also notes that Apple has reached the level with ’ #8220;significant control” over its products’ design, scalability, costs and profits that many other companies do not have. However, please note that the report does not include research and development costs or shipping costs.
The full report can be found on the Counterpoint Research website.
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