iPhone 12 Costs $431 to Make, 26% More Expensive than iPhone 11

Counterpoint Research has conducted an analysis of the Bill of Materials, or BOM, on the iPhone 12, determining that the new device costs $431 to make.

In other words, all components available on the iPhone 12 lead to a cost that’s 26 percent higher than on the iPhone 11, and the reason is as simple as it could be: the addition of 5G components, which are rather pricy.

“Producing a 128GB iPhone 12 mmWave (millimeter-wave) smartphone will cost Apple up to $431, 26% higher compared to the iPhone 11, according to the latest bill of materials (BoM) analysis by Counterpoint’s component research practice. Despite over $27 cost savings due to the simplified RF design, the BoM cost of the sub-6GHz-only model for overseas markets still increased by 18%,” Counterpoint explains.

“Assuming a 38% mmWave mix, the blended materials cost for the iPhone 12 with 128GB NAND flash is nearly $415, a 21% increase over its predecessor. Application processor, 5G baseband, display and 5G RF components represent the major areas of the cost increase.”

No charger in the box

In addition, the iPhone 12 now uses an OLED panel, whereas its successor used LCD. This led to a cost increase of $23, according to the analysis. Apple’s self-designed components, including the A14 Bionic chip, also increased the price by as much as 16.7 percent.

However, the Cupertino-based tech giant has tried to deal with the cost increase in different ways, and one of them is the decision to give up on the charger that comes in the box of every iPhone 12.

At the same time, the company has also tried to diversify its supply sources.

“For the iPhone 12, the memory orders are split between industry leaders, with Samsung and KIOXIA (Toshiba) supplying NAND flash, and SK Hynix and Micron supplying LPDDR4X. The camera content shares are largely gained by Sony, LG Innotek and Sharp. NXP and Broadcom continue providing solutions for wireless connection and display/touch control. Cirrus Logic, Goertek, Knowles and AAC dominate the audio design. TI and ST are major suppliers of power and battery management IC. Apple has also expanded its cooperation with ASE/USI, leveraging the latter’s SiP (System in Package) packaging technology to miniaturize the design,” Counterpoint explains.

All iPhone models launched this year come with 5G connectivity.