iPhone: A Look Inside

Analysts at RBC Capital Markets and Portelligent research broke open the iPhone and got an unprecedented peek at its bowels. Their findings are sure to be of great interest to chip, memory and display technology investors. Here's what they found: (1) No Intel inside. No surprise here; investors had been warned in advance that iPhone's main processor would not be made by Intel. Samsung got the nod on the core chip; its design is owned and licensed by ARM Holdings. (2) Intel does make the iPhone's 32-megabit flash memory. (3) I/O chip: Broadcom. (4) Power management: Texas Instruments, Linear Technology and Philips. (5) WiFi: Marvell. (6) Camera sensor: Micron. (7) Front-end power amplifier: Skyworks. (8) Display driver: National Semiconductor may be its supplier. (8) Touch screen: German manufacturer Balda. (9) Wireless components: Infineon, RF Micro Devices. (10) Orientation sensor: ST Microelectronics. Portelligent research's David Carey estimates the cost of the iPhone's materials is about $200 for the 4-gigabyte version ($499) and $220 for the 8-gigabyte model ($599); his estimates exclude final assembly costs.

Sources: TheStreet.com, Business Week
Commentary: That $599 iPhone Costs $220 To Make [TechCrunch] • iPhone Consumers Prepare For Teardown • iPhone Plays holdings [Stockpickr] • iPhone Disassembly (picture gallery) [Ifixit]
Stocks/ETFs to watch: Apple Computer Inc. (AAPL), Intel Corp. (INTC), Broadcom Corp. (BRCM), Texas Instruments Inc. (TXN), Marvell Technology Group (MRVL), Micron Technology Inc. (MU), Skyworks Solutions Inc. (SWKS), National Semiconductor Corp. (NSM), ARM Holdings plc (ARMHY), Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (PHG), Linear Technology Corp. (LLTC), Infineon Technologies AG (IFX), RF Micro Devices Inc. (RFMD), ST Microelectronics N.V. (STM)

Video: How to dissect the iPhone

Seeking Alpha's news briefs are combined into a pre-market summary called Wall Street Breakfast. Get Wall Street Breakfast by email -- it's free and takes only seconds to sign up.

Comments

[scott146]

So what it boils down to is that this is likely to be hugely profitable for Apple as the contribution margin is either $299 or $380 each. Just goes to show the value of a brand...

[Frank Li]

... and that the value is migrating from hardware components to software and usability/design.