iPhone 12, iPhone 12 Pro Bill of Materials Surface Online, South Korean Components Dominate Value: Report

iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro bill of materials (BOM) details have surfaced online, which point to the manufacturing cost Apple bears for the latest iPhone model. The new development comes over a month after Apple launched the iPhone 12 — alongside the iPhone 12 mini, iPhone 12 Pro, and the iPhone 12 Pro Max. To deliver a distinctive experience over the earlier iPhone models, the Cupertino company has provided some hardware changes on the iPhone 12 series. These have resulted in some increments on the cost front.

According to a teardown conducted by Tokyo-based research firm Fomalhaut Techno Solutions in a collaboration with Nikkei, the cost of the iPhone 12 Pro emerged at $406 (roughly Rs. 30,000). This is $593 (roughly Rs. 43,800) less than the $999 (roughly Rs. 73,800) starting price of the iPhone 12 Pro. Of course, the final price reflects much more than the physical hardware that goes into the phone, so this shouldn't surprise anyone.

The iPhone 12, on the other hand, comes with a bill of materials of $373 (roughly Rs. 27,500), as reported by GSMArena. This is an increase of $426 (roughly Rs. 31,500) over the $799 (roughly Rs. 59,000) starting price of the iPhone 12.

The most expensive component on the iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro is the Qualcomm X55 5G modem that is at $90 (roughly Rs. 6,600). After the modem, the OLED display that is made by Samsung and LG is the second most expensive internal on the new iPhone models. It is said to cost $70 (roughly Rs. 5,200). Both iPhone models notably include the same Super Retina XDR display that comes with a resolution of 2,532 x 1,170 pixels.

Apple has used its A14 Bionic chip on the iPhone 12 series that is said to come at a production cost of $40 (roughly Rs. 2,900). The built-in RAM and flash memory are amongst the other parts that reportedly cost $12.8 (roughly Rs. 944) and $19.2 (roughly Rs. 1,400), respectively. Samsung is said to be the supplier for the memory components on the iPhone 12 models.

The iPhone 12 Pro comes with CMOS image sensors that are made by Sony. There are three sensors along with wide-angle and telephoto lenses on top. These sensors are said to be priced at around $5.40 and $7.40 each.

In addition to the breakdown of the component costs, the teardown shows that the iPhone 12 Pro has a domination of South Korean-made components that account for 26.8 percent of the total handset value. This is followed by US-made parts that account for a 21.9 percent of value.

Compared with last year's iPhone 11 that had an LCD panel instead of the OLED screen and 4G support over 5G connectivity, the South Korean share in the cost of the iPhone 12 Pro grew 9.1 percentage points. The cost share of the US parts, however, dropped 3.9 points over the last year's model.

That said, Apple still assembles the iPhone 12 series in China. Some past reports, though, have hinted at its India manufacturing plans.

iPhone 12 Pro Series Is Amazing, but Why Is It So Expensive in India? We discussed this on Orbital, our weekly technology podcast, which you can subscribe to via Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or RSS, download the episode, or just hit the play button below.