SAN FRANCISCO—Apple Inc.'s new iPad models are more expensive to produce than the iPad 2 at time of launch, though they carry the same price points, according to market research firm IHS iSuppli.
The 32-gigabyte (GB) version of the third-generation iPad, equipped with 4G wireless capability, carries a bill-of-materials (BOM) of $364.35, according to a preliminary teardown analysis performed by market research firm IHS iSuppli.
The cost to produce the 32GB, 4G capable version of the new iPad totals $375.10, including $10.75 manufacturing costs, according to IHS. The BoM of the 16GB 4G LTE version amounts to $347.55, and the 64GB version is estimated at $397.95, according to IHS.
The $364.35 BoM represents 50 percent of the $729.00 retail price of the 32GB LTE version of the new iPad, IHS said.
The very lowest-end version of the new iPad, with 16GB memory and no LTE, carries a combined BoM and manufacturing cost of $316, IHS said. The highest-end model, with 64GB memory and integrated LTE, has a total BOM and manufacturing expense of $408.70, according to IHS.
Click on image to enlarge.The 32GB LTE model's BOM is nearly 9 percent higher than an iPad 2 equipped with 32GB and 3G wireless, which carried a cost of approximately $335 at the time of product launch, IHS said. Major factors driving up the BoM include the addition of the high-resolution Retina display, LTE wireless and a larger-capacity battery, according to the firm.
"The Retina display represents the centerpiece of the new iPad and is the most obvious enhancement in features compared to previous-generation models," said Andrew Rassweiler, senior principal analyst of teardown services at IHS, in a statement. "The first two generations of the iPad employed the same type of display—a screen with resolution of 1,024 by 768 pixels. For the third-generation new iPad, Apple has taken a significant step up in display capabilities and expense, at four times the resolution and 53 percent more cost."
Earlier teardown analyses
performed by iFixit Inc. and
UBM TechInsights revealed many of the component suppliers to the new iPad, but did not include a BoM estimate.