How Apple could have built a cheaper iPhone 5C - Computerworld ~ Electronic Gadgets

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September 26, 2013 09:09 AM ET

Computerworld - Apple could have built a much less expensive iPhone, a move most analysts expected before Sept. 10, but that would have risked destroying intangible advantages the company has accumulated over decades, an expert in component costs said Wednesday.

"You can make a smartphone for under $150 or even under $100," said Andrew Rassweiler, a senior director of IHS iSuppli's cost benchmarking team, in an interview Wednesday. "Apple could have done that if it de-speced [the iPhone 5C] enough. But it would have tarnished the brand."

Two weeks ago, Apple unveiled the iPhone 5C, an old smartphone -- essentially 2012's iPhone 5 -- in a new plastic coat. More importantly to the Wall Street and industry analysts who had pondered the long-rumored handset, Apple priced the entry-level 16GB iPhone 5C at $549 sans a mobile carrier subsidy, just $100 less than the company's flagship iPhone 5S.

Before the Sept. 10 unveiling, experts of all stripes bet on an unsubsidized price of between $300 and $450 for the iPhone 5C. That price range, their thinking went, would allow Apple to compete with global smartphone brands powered by Android, like Samsung, and the plethora of in-country, Android-using handset makers in massive markets such as China, like the hard-charging Xiaomi.

They argued that without a truly low-priced model, Apple would continue to shed share -- especially in China, India and other parts of Asia -- and perhaps lose its prominent place in developers' minds as a result. In turn, that could negate one of its biggest advantages, a thriving app ecosystem.

Instead, as only a few analysts predicted, including Ben Thompson of Stratechery, Apple reiterated the strategy that has made it billions: The iPhone is a premium smartphone even when it costs less.

The build quality and components within the iPhone 5C support that, said Rassweiler. IHS regularly disassembles smartphones and tablets to see which component suppliers are in with a vendor, which have been dumped. The research firm also uses its teardowns to calculate a "bill of materials," or BOM, an estimate of the device's manufacturing cost.

According to IHS' calculations, the iPhone 5C's BOM was $173.45 for the 16GB model.

But Apple could have built an iPhone that would sell unsubsidized for $400 and retained its customary high hardware margin of around 68%, Rassweiler contended. Such an iPhone would have had to cut enough corners to bring the BOM in at approximately $130.

In fact, IHS created a "straw man" BOM as an exercise, hoping to find out what such an iPhone would have -- and have to give up -- to meet the $130 limit.

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