iPhone 12 Pro components cost surprisingly little

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iPhone 12 Pro parts cost shockingly little
The sum of iPhone 12 Pro parts cost is less than half the price of the product.
Photo: Cult of Mac

The iPhone 12 Pro starts at $999, but the components for this high-end smartphone cost less than half the selling price. Market researchers disassembled Apple’s latest top-tier handset to ascertain its parts cost.

And they figured out that only a tiny percentage of the device is actually made is China.

iPhone 12 Pro parts cost $406

Fomalhaut Techno Solutions tore down an iPhone 12 Pro and determined that the costs of the various components total $406, according to NikkeiAsia. That’s about 40% of the selling price.

Of course, the remaining $593 isn’t pure profit. This is only the cost of the parts, and doesn’t cover Apple employee salaries, advertising and other expenses. Research and development on the hardware is not included. Also, the bill of materials doesn’t include software, and iPhone sales (with some help from iPad) must cover all the expenses for developing iOS/iPadOS and its bundled software.

iPhone is assembled in China, not made in China

Apple critics complain about the iPhone being made in China, but it actually it is not. In addition to calculating the cost of each iPhone 12 Pro component, Fomalhaut Techno Solutions listed what country it was made in. China is responsible for just a small share.

So many people think the iPhone is made in China because it’s assembled there. Except lots of them are assembled in India. And the components come from around the world.

The largest percentage of parts by value comes from South Korea at 26.8%. That’s because Samsung and LG supply the expensive OLED screens. U.S. companies make 21.9%. Europe also supplies 21.9%, while Japan makes 13.6% and Taiwan makes 11.1%. China is responsible for only 4.6% of iPhone 12 Pro components.

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