Technabob » isuppli

Kindle Fire Costs $202 to Build According to iSuppli

Shane McGlaun — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 18:14:52 +0000

I like to see people take a new gadget and then tear it apart so we can see what’s on the inside. Sometimes these teardowns are done so we can see if the gadget is easy to repair. Other times it’s to see if the device has hidden features. Sometimes teardowns are simply done to see how much a device costs to make.

The latest cost teardown comes from iSuppli and it is of the new Kindle Fire tablet. They tallied up all the parts inside and came up with a rough cost to buy the components of $185.60, then once your add manufacturing costs and margin expenses, that brings the total cost up to $201.70. The Fire sells for $199, so they are taking a small loss for each one sold. Presumably, they can afford a small loss on each one, with the hopes that users will purchase a bunch of content at a higher margin.

You can have to keep in mind that the cost doesn’t include any of Amazon’s overhead or marketing either. Granted the Fire hasn’t needed much marketing other than some ads on Amazon and the launch event to sell very well so far.

[via AllThingsD]

Nintendo 3DS Costs Just Over $100 to Build

Shane McGlaun — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 14:41:02 +0000

The Nintendo 3DS has now launched and is in the hands of a bunch of gamers all around the world. The new portable console sold pretty well, even if the mix of launch titles is questionable. Research firm iSuppli has taken a 3DS and torn it apart to get an idea of what the console costs Nintendo to make.

The most expensive parts inside the console are the Sharp screens that are estimated to contribute $38.80 of the cost. The processor inside the machine is about $10, and the memory subsystem costs about $8.36. Other parts of the rig include the user interface with a gyroscope costing $6.81, $5.00 for a WLAN system, $4.70 for the cameras, and about $3.50 for the battery system.

The total bill of materials for the 3DS is pegged at $100.71 (USD) in parts, with labor adding another $2.54 making the total cost to build $103.25. That price doesn’t count the marketing dollars spent on the 3DS launch and advertising, but I’m going to guess Nintendo is still making some money beside what they make on games.

Nokia N8 Costs $187 to Build According to Isuppli

Shane McGlaun — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 01:17:17 +0000

One of the things that goes along with the geek’s morbid obsession to see new gadgets ripped apart is to know how much it costs the maker to build those gadgets. Once we know how much the things cost,we can look at how much they sell them to us for and start the bitching. One of the companies that is most prolific with estimates on gadget cost is iSuppli.

iSuppli has now offered up its estimate on how much it costs to build the new Nokia N8. According to the firm’s breakdown, the materials in the N8 cost about $187.47 (USD). That’s just 4 cents less than the $187.51 the firm pegs the materials cost of the 16GB iPhone 4 at.

The most expensive component is the touchscreen with the AMOLED provided by Samsung costing $39.25. The 16GB of flash storage costs $37.12, the camera adds $31.08 to the bottom line, and the chipset for the OS operations is $22.

With an unlocked N8 selling for $549.00, it seems that Nokia is making a hefty profit, but I think the smartphone still has little chance of being a real factor in a world dominated by Android and the iPhone.

[iSuppli via Bloomberg]

Ps3s to Lose Up to $306 Each at Launch

Technabob — Thu, 16 Nov 2006 12:49:52 +0000

Market intelligence firm iSuppli has completed their preliminary analysis of the costs to manufacture Sony’s Playstation 3 consoles. It looks like the two PS3 models (20/60GB) will lose between $241 and $306 each, not including the cost of accessories such as cables, controllers, packaging or shipping.

The estimated material and manufacturing cost for the $499 retail, 20GB PS3 console is $805.85 and the $599 retail, 60GB console is estimated to cost $840.35 to build.

It’s not uncommon for new consoles to be sold at a significant loss, with the aim to gain market penetration, sell high-margin games and accessories and to eventually lower production costs. Just a year ago, Microsoft’s Xbox 360 was estimated to be losing up to $200 per console, and now is produced at an estimated $75 profit. That all said, with concerns about limited availability of parts and launch titles, it may be several years before Sony will be able to make a profit on the PS3.

[via iSuppli]