Apple spent 12% more on the parts needed to build the iPhone 15 Pro Max compared to what it paid for the components used on the iPhone 14 Pro Max. A teardown of this year’s top-of-the-line iPhone revealed that the cost of the parts used to build the device comes to $558. Apple’s profit margin will be impacted by the higher-priced bill of materials (BOM) especially since Apple didn’t raise the price of the phone.
While the iPhone 15 Pro Max starts at $1,199, $100 more than the starting price of the iPhone 14 Pro Max, this year the starting model comes with 256GB of storage compared to 128GB on the iPhone 14 Pro Max. Since the latter device with 256GB of storage cost $1,199 at launch, Apple kept its iPhone 15 Pro Max pricing the same in 2023. However, the higher BOM invoice for each unit means less profit on the sale of each iPhone 15 Pro Max.
Part of the higher costs is due to the addition of the first periscope lens in iPhone history. Available only on the iPhone 15 Pro Max, Apple’s implementation of the periscope lens, the tetraprism system that delivers 5x optical zoom, results in a cost for the unit’s telephoto camera that is 3.8 times what Apple spent for the telephoto camera used with the iPhone 14 Pro Max. The heavily promoted titanium chassis costs 43% more than the stainless steel used on the iPhone 14 Pro Max, and the display on the newer phone costs Apple 20% more than the screen used last year.
Apple spent 12% more for the parts needed to build the iPhone 15 Pro Max
Apple did add new features to the non-Pro iPhone 15 models this year starting with the Digital Island, and it also upgraded the image sensor backing the main rear camera to 48MP from 12MP.
There seem to be two processes at work here. As suppliers get more adept at building core parts that don’t change much year-over-year, the costs for these parts decline annually. New features will raise the amount of money Apple shells out to build its phones every year.
