Inside the iPhone: Who's Making What

One of the first things that happens when a product like the iPhone 3G hits the market is someone breaks it.  For curiosity, for insight, to see what’s inside, or simply because they can – someone will crack it open and chronicle all the bits and pieces; who made what and where did they do it.

It won’t be until July 11th that such an official breakdown can happen (and it’ll probably be a couple days after before such a story is published) but that delivery day isn’t stopping insiders from “leaking” news about who won the the iPhone part-age lottery, nor is it stopping the press from speculating.

As of Thursday, the Commercial Times, a Chinese-language newspaper, is claiming they’ve got the scoop on what’s in iPhone 3g.  Per their reports, and translations from Digitimes, the following companies will be inside come July 11:

PART	MAKER
GPS Chips	Broadcom (BRCM)
Camera Lens	Largan Precision and Genius Electronics
Handset Chips	Infineon (IFX)
Foundry	UMC
Case	Foxconn
Crystal	TXC, NTK
PCP	Nanya PCB, Unimicron
Assembly	Foxconn
IC Package	Siliconware Precision Industries
Camera	Altus Technology, Primax
Panel	Sharp (SHCAY.PK)

 

The Commercial Times has reported various leaks for months, but until the phone is officially broken, it’s all speculation.  Still, with much overlap between iPhone 1.0 and iPhone 3G, chances are the list is predominantly accurate.

OTHER APPLEVINE RUMORS –

iPod Touch Upgrades or Pricing Changes Coming?

With the iPhone 3G on the way, astute observers are starting to wonder if changes will soon follow for the flagship iPod touch.   It is, after all, substantially similar to the iPhone.  It’s also soon to lose much of its pricing appeal once the new affordably priced phone hits store shelves in July.

Why (cell phone subscription costs aside) would you buy a $299 8GB iPod Touch if you can buy an iPhone that has the same feature set and more for $199 ?

Will the Touch get a facelift?  Bigger hard drives (it’s currently available in 8GB, 16GB and the pricy ($499) 32GB models)?  Or will Apple address the pricing issue and the likelihood of iPhone-caused cannibalization with a price cut?

These are all interesting questions and all forming the seeds of new rumor and speculation.   Adding to some of the chatter too, pipeline watchers have recently reported some slight shipping delays for the more affordably priced Touch models.

Given the device is being bundled and given to students as part of a package incentive for buying Macs, it’s possible any inventory lags are purely coincidental.  On the other hand, shortages and promotional pricing can often indicate a pre-update house cleaning. 

Apple

’s (AAPL) earnings come in mid-July.  If news it coming, it could come then, or in time for the back-to-school sales around late August, early September.

Comments

[Camden]

Re: "Why (cell phone subscription costs aside) would you buy a $299 8GB iPod Touch if you can buy an iPhone that has the same feature set and more for $199 ?"

You CAN'T ignore the cell phone subscription. That makes it cost a LOT more than $299. If what you want is the best internet-in-your-pocke... device with a great iPod then you want an iPod Touch – and $299 is a reasonable price compared to the competition.

[Seth]

UPDATE: In addition to the above Apple rumors, a little more has hit the airwaves since this was original written. Notably, perspective on Apple's profit margin. We've got that info updated in the article at Metue.com (Link: metue.com/06-19-2008/a.../)

For the quick summary here: there are reports Apple's cost structure for hardware may be as low as $100. There are also reports of exactly what AT&T will pay to Apple. Combined, if accurate, the iPhone 3G could be among the most profitable, per product, in Apple's portfolio. More in the link.

[Yourope]

Yesterday I saw my first iPhone owner here in Europe. It was a 70-year old grandma! I guess that is the right niché for iPhone here as the display is big. I guess she is content with iPhones simple 2 Mpx camera as she propably only shall make calls and send sms to her grandchildren with her phone. We younger people still go on buying the much more advanced cell phones sold by Nokia, LG and SonyEricsson.

[WACG]

Buy the rumor sell the news. It is the historically profitable way to play AAPL .

[UnitedStates ofGenerica]

Many younger European people I know, who are high-net-worthies, all have iPhones. Perhaps Yourope and his friends will be tempted by the cheaper iPhones and wider availability?

Interestingly many corporate techies I know who generally hate Apple (they love Microsoft) and previously worshiped at the alter of Nokia Nseries (e.g. N95) are looking how to get out of their contracts and get Apple iPhone 3G.

[WillyW]

I confirm that european early adopters have iphones...i'm looking forward to hear about Apple Europe Policy!

[gskiii]

The iPod Touch has no hard drive - it is all flash.

[Seth]

Absolutely true, gskiii. To have been completely accurate, I should have said "storage capacity" instead of "hard drive"....