Research agency IHS Markit has analyzed the total cost of materials for producing Apple iPhone 8 Plus and iPhone 8.
The bill of materials (BOM) cost for iPhone 8 Plus is $288.
After adding $7.36 in basic manufacturing costs, Apple’s cost to make iPhone 8 Plus rises to $295.44, $17.78 higher than that of the iPhone 7 Plus.
IHS Markit estimates that the iPhone 8 bill of materials is $247.51, or $9.57 higher than the iPhone 7 at the time of release.
The price for 64GB iPhone 8 is $699, $50 more than the price for iPhone 7 at launch. The iPhone 8 Plus starts at $799, $30 higher than that of the iPhone 7 Plus.
“The higher total BOM cost for the iPhone 8 Plus can’t be tied to a single area or feature. The higher cost is the result of slower annual component cost erosion tied in with additional features,” said Andrew Rassweiler, senior director of cost benchmarking services for IHS Markit.
iPhone 8 Plus features 5.5-inch Full HD display, an aluminum frame and hardened glass. The model features wireless charging. Apple abandoned the aluminum uni-body design for a traditional glass back. Apple is selling iPhone 8 and 8 Plus in silver, space gray and rose gold.
Top three smartphone makers are Samsung with 23 percent share; Apple with 12 percent; and Huawei with 11 percent.
“Apple’s shipments for the last quarter were flat year-on-year and Samsung’s Galaxy S8 devices have been successful in the high-end pricing segment,” said Gerrit Schneemann, senior analyst for mobile handsets.
Apple claims that iPhone 8 and 8 Plus feature a new proprietary six-core, 64-bit A11 Bionic chip — manufactured using 10nm process. The phone runs about 30 percent faster than last year’s A10 CPU and runs more efficiently at half the power, and battery life is prolonged.
Apple is using Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the updated the iPhone Plus camera. Special neural engine in A11 Bionic chip enables a host of computational photography capabilities in the portrait mode on the iPhone 8 Plus.
All six cores of the CPU cluster can be activated at once to crush through operations. The A11 Bionic features Apple designed tri-core GPU that boasts 70 percent better graphical performance than its predecessor.
iPhone 8 series will not feature an edge-to-edge OLED display as expected in the iPhone X. The new iPhones will carry the same LCD displays as in years past.
The iPhone 8 series support wireless charging.
iPhone 8 and 8 Plus have new sensors, with lenses featuring f1.8 and f2.8 apertures – brighter than the 7 Plus telephoto – in the iPhone 8 Plus. It has new color filters. Studio lighting includes dropping the background out completely to black.
“Apple invested heavily in the camera capabilities of iPhone 8 Plus due to the increase in component costs,” said Wayne Lam, principal analyst, mobile devices and networks for IHS Markit.
