KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 8 — It’s undeniable that smartphones, especially those in the flagship tier, cost much more than they used to. In fact, a RM4,000 premium flagship is considered "affordable” in this day and age. But have you ever wondered how much they actually cost for manufacturers to build?

iPhone 16 Pro costs Apple about RM2,511 in material to build

To find out how much one of Apple’s latest smartphones, specifically the iPhone 16 Pro costs Apple to make, Nikkei, a Japanese-based news site, did a teardown with the smartphone, and found out that its bill of materials (BOM) amounted to US$568 (approx. RM2,511). This is approximately 6 per cent more than the BOM Apple spent with the iPhone 15 Pro from last year.

An image of a breakdown of the iPhone 16 Pro’s BOM provided by Nikkei was shared by tech leaker @Jukanlosreve on X. The image revealed that the device’s Samsung-supplied M14 OLED display costs US$110 (approx. RM486), while its camera modules cost US$91 (approx. RM402).

Arguably the most expensive material in the iPhone 16 Pro is the Apple A18 Pro chip, which amounts to USD135 (approx. RM596). This contributed to nearly one-fourth of the iPhone 16 Pro’s total BOM.

Google Pixel 9 Pro costs around RM1,795 in BOM

Nikkei also revealed the BOM for the Google Pixel 9 Pro, which totals up to approximately US$406 (approx. RM1,795), making it 28.5 per cent cheaper to build than the iPhone 16 Pro.

An image from Nikkei shows that the Tensor G4 chipset on the Pixel 9 Pro cost Google US$80 (approx. RM354) to make, while the Samsung-supplied M14 AMOLED display, as well as the camera components cost US$75 (approx. RM332) and US$61 (approx. RM270) respectively.

This marks an 11 per cent decrease as compared to the BOM of the Pixel 8 Pro released last year. Although the cost of the Tensor G4 chip costs 7 per cent more to build than the Tensor G3 in the Pixel 8 Pro, the display and camera costs went down by 30 per cent.

However, this didn’t come as a surprise as the display and camera on the Pixel 9 Pro are smaller than that of the Pixel 8 Pro. Therefore, this isn’t exactly a fair comparison. A comparison of BOM between the Pixel 9 Pro XL and the Pixel 8 Pro would show us a more accurate comparison, but the report did not do so, unfortunately.

BOM is just a part of the cost of making a smartphone

At the end of the day, the cost of producing and selling a smartphone doesn’t just stop at its BOM. Additional costs from shipping, marketing, running retail shops, and even discounts and sales all contribute to the final retail price of a smartphone. — SoyaCincau