A costly bargain !

Cheapskates of the world, wait ! Not yet time to buy that iPhone.

Apple, always secretive and tight-lipped about its supply-chain and manufacturing arrangements, almost never says anything in public about its suppliers, not even to disclose names. So it's left to teardown firms such as Austin-based Portelligent, to sleuth out not only who supplies all the parts but what it costs to make a device.

.

Early strippers that took the iPhone apart found out it just costs $265.83 to make the high-end model priced at $599 – a juicy margin of more than 55% for Apple [apparently net of tax and SGA adjustments]. Let Apple enjoy while it lasts. Soon some rundown Chinese firm will figure out how to make it at 1/10th cost and start sucking those margins out.

Talking of Chinese handsets, the bargain doesn’t just stop at cheap rates. You also get more `functionalities’ thrown in than you had asked for. Shopping around for Chinese bargains can get serious, like this Motorola customer who had to pay with his dear life - courtesy, a pyrotechnic fatality offered by a cheap battery. Lucky if the scar's just nipple deep.

Sad, really sad…

.