A careful disassembly of Apple’s latest iPhone 16 Pro allowed us to explore manufacturing costs. While iFixit has reverse-engineered Apple’s high-end to unearth the technological intricacies, Nikkeiin collaboration with Tokyo-based Fomalhaut Techno Solutions, has listed each component and its cost. Unsurprisingly, the in-house chip designed in particular for generative AI increased the bill, as did the camera.
An increase of 6%
The detailed analysis shows that iPhone 16 Pro parts cost Apple a total of $568, an increase of 6% compared to the iPhone 15 Pro last year. For comparison, parts for the Google Pixel 9 Pro total $406, which is an 11% drop from last year’s model.
The main factor behind the iPhone 16 Pro’s higher cost is its A18 Pro chip, made by TSMC using an advanced 3-nanometer process. This chip alone is estimated at $135, which is almost a quarter of the phone’s total component cost. The second most expensive item is the 6.3-inch OLED display (a new size, the old one being 6.1 inches as of 2020), which costs $110. This display is more expensive than the Pixel’s $75 display due to power-saving technology that dynamically adjusts the refresh rate between 1 and 120 Hz.
The iPhone 16 Pro also uses a titanium frame, which adds about $30 more than the Pixel 9 Pro’s aluminum frame. Additionally, its camera components total $91, which is about $30 more than the Pixel 9 Pro. The iPhone’s front camera module has a time-of-flight sensor for facial recognition and 3D image capture, an advanced capability that the Pixel lacks.
Despite these increased production costs, Apple has kept the base price of the iPhone Pro model in the United States at $999, unchanged since 2017 and the release of the iPhone X, choosing not to pass the difference on to consumers. An appreciable initiative, although the Apple firm intends to make up for it elsewhere, particularly with services whose revenues reached $25 billion in the last quarter. And Apple Intelligence could enter into this in the more or less near future, with a paid “+” formula.
