Apple Inc.'s new iPhone 4 costs almost $20 more to make than its predecessor, the iPhone 3GS, but the device will still help the company continue to rack up high profits, the research group iSuppli said Monday.
The iPhone 4 went on sale June 24. After taking this latest Apple gadget apart and identifying the components, iSuppli estimated the cost of the parts totals $187.51. That's more than the $170.80 iSuppli estimates for the cost of the materials inside the iPhone 3GS, Apple's last-generation smart phone.
The estimates don't include manufacturing, software, marketing and other costs.
The priciest part of the iPhone 4 is the new, higher-resolution LCD screen, which iSuppli estimates carries a cost of $28.50. Flash memory, which has been in short supply, costs $27. Apple's processor, which was manufactured by Samsung, according to iSuppli, costs $10.75, and the capacitive touch screen costs $10.
Apple's iPhones cost consumers $199 or $299 with a two-year wireless contract in the U.S., but such low prices as those are heavily subsidized by the wireless carriers.
Despite the major design overhaul Apple gave the iPhone, the gadget maker "will be able to maintain the prodigious margins that have allowed it to build up a colossal cash reserve," said Kevin Keller, an iSuppli analyst, in a statement.
