Teardown reveals iPhone parts cost two bills
![](https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/JCG581lLnq1Ebtuhb6xRvA--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTQyMDtoPTM0Mw--/https://s.yimg.com/uu/api/res/1.2/kQnk2OaesdFRYbrCVKyEqg--~B/aD0xOTY7dz0yNDA7YXBwaWQ9eXRhY2h5b24-/https://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2007/04/iphone-small-time-money.jpg)
Unlike video game consoles, phones are typically profitable to manufacture from day one and it turns out that the iPhone is no exception -- far from it, in fact. Teardown specialists at Portelligent claim that the 4GB iPhone runs Apple just $200 worth of components, while the 8GB adds an extra $20, not far off at all from iSuppli's slightly higher estimates from January. Granted those tallies don't include the actual cost of assembling the device -- but even so, those numbers are very far cries from the $500 and $600 asking prices at the register, leaving a healthy $299 and $379 respectively (of which an overwhelming majority are $379) for profit and miscellaneous costs. Interestingly, Portelligent's unceremonious destruction of an iPhone in the name of research revealed no further proof that Hon Hai / Foxconn is the ODM responsible for assembling the darned thing.