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Teardown of Apple's iPhone 3G - Updated

1. Apple Stresses Cost Reduction for iPhone 3G

2. Inside Apple iPhone 3G exposed -EETimes

3. The $199 iPhone: still a money maker - EE Times

4. Virtual teardown puts Apple’s iPhone 3G margin at 56%- Fourtune

5. iPhone 3G saves Apple over $50 per unit - AppleInsider.com

6. Inside the Latest iPhone - BusinessWeek.com

7. Apple's 3G iPhone: Cheaper For You To Buy, Cheaper For Apple To Build - alleyinsider.com

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1. Apple Stresses Cost Reduction for iPhone 3G

Jonathan Cassell/ iSuppli Corporation July 15, 2008

The new iPhone 3G sports an evolutionary design that favors cost reduction instead of cutting-edge features, supporting Apple Inc.’s goal of expanding its market share and achieving a worldwide presence for the product, according to a physical teardown analysis conducted this weekend by iSuppli Corp.

iSuppli’s Teardown Analysis Service on July 11 obtained an iPhone 3G and commenced a dissection in order to identify component suppliers, as well as to determine preliminary part and system costs. Per the teardown analysis and subsequent examinations by analysts, iSuppli has issued a preliminary estimate of $174.33 for initial production costs for the 8Gbyte iPhone 3G.

This figure consists only of the iPhone 3G’s combined Bill of Materials (BOM) and manufacturing expenses. The total doesn't include other costs, including software development, shipping and distribution, packaging and miscellaneous accessories included with each phone.

iSuppli’s cost estimate is nearly identical to the $173 BOM predicted in iSuppli’s virtual teardown issued to the public in late June.

Cost considerations rule in new iPhone

At $174.33, the BOM and manufacturing cost of the new iPhone is markedly less than the $227 that iSuppli estimated for the first-generation, 8Gbyte 2G iPhone in June 2007. While using a new design, the iPhone 3G really represents a refinement of the original iPhone 2G, according to iSuppli.

“The addition of 3G wireless capability represents an evolutionary design step for the iPhone, not a revolutionary one,” said Andrew Rassweiler, teardown services manager and principal analyst at iSuppli. “iSuppli believes Apple aimed for a more cost-effective design for the 3G iPhone compared to the 2G, in order to lower the retail price—which will allow the company to seed adoption and to capture maximum market share now—while the company still has buzz and a perceived differentiation relative to its competitors.”

The iPhone 3G’s use of an Infineon Technologies AG baseband chip that supports the HSDPA, WCDMA and EDGE air standards, plus the integration of three separate TriQuint Semiconductor Inc. tri-band WCDMA Power Amplifier Modules (PAMs), reflects the fact that the iPhone 3G is suited for sale worldwide.

Infineon takes key baseband slot

The attached table presents iSuppli’s preliminary analysis of components and suppliers for the iPhone 3G, determined via physical teardown. iSuppli has conducted a teardown analysis of only one 3G iPhone. While there are variations in the components and suppliers for individual products, iSuppli believes that the vendors and parts identified in its teardown likely are representative of all iPhone 3Gs now being shipped—excluding certain memory devices and other commodity parts that are available from multiple sources.

After iSuppli has completed an analysis of a larger sample of iPhones, we will issue further information to the public.

Infineon AG was the big winner in the key baseband section of the iPhone 3G torn down by iSuppli, contributing its HSDPA/WCDMA/EDGE chip that includes dual ARM926 and ARM7 microprocessor cores. Solely-sourced items include Infineon’s baseband solution, RF transceiver and Global Positioning System (GPS) devices; Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd’s applications processor integrated with Synchronous DRAM (SDRAM); Marvell Technology Group Ltd.’s WLAN device and Cambridge Silicon Radio’s (CSR’s) Bluetooth chip.

Multi-sourced items include Toshiba Corp.’s 8Gbyte NAND flash memory chip. Apple’s other likely sources for this part include Samsung.

Design insights

Other observations made by iSuppli’s analysis team include:

The redesigned internals of the iPhone 3G include only one large Printed Circuit Board (PCB), instead of the two nested PCBs found in the 2G version. The iPhone 3G uses a 10-layer board, compared to the less-expensive six-layer PCBs commonly employed in mobile handsets.
The battery is not soldered into the iPhone 3G as it is done in the 2G, making it more serviceable.
Some chips have the Apple logo or are unmarked. Although iSuppli has been able to identify many of these parts and their true manufacturers by de-capping the chips and examining their dies, some devices remain unidentifiable at this time.

iPhone costs

Beyond the $174.33 BOM and manufacturing cost of the iPhone 3G, Apple is spending an estimated $50 on IP royalties per unit shipped. With the 8Gbyte version retail-priced at $199, and the estimated $300 subsidy paid by AT&T to Apple for each unit, Apple is selling the product at a price of $499, and spending $224.33 to produce each one. This gives Apple a BOM, manufacturing and royalty margin of 55 percent for each 8Gbyte iPhone 3G unit sold.

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2. Inside Apple iPhone 3G

Patrick Mannion/ EETimes/ Under the Hood - Jul 12, 2008

Editor's Note: For more insight, view the full videotaped teardown analysis by clicking "Video: Inside iPhone 3G"

Updates from you, TechOnline's Community, are at the end and are marked with an '*'. Keep 'em coming...

Commack, NY -- Aside from some very surprising component choices in key parts of the up-graded communications section, as well as some software improvements and some basic design tweaks, the old adage 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it' has clearly shaped the design of the iPhone 3G, the follow-up to Apple's phenomenally successful launch of the iPhone line of handsets.

"It's incrementalism at play," said David Carey, president of teardown specialist Portelligent. "They learned a bit from their 'Touch' solution and replaced two boards with one."

Instead of trying to reinvent the device, Apple focused on enhancing the user experience and expanding its fan base. It has done this by not only expanding its geographical footprint and speeding up its wireless connection, but also through the iPhone applications development network. Clearly one of the bigger stories behind the 3G launch, the developer program will see Apple providing resources, real-time testing and distribution, to accelerate the delivery of more diverse applications to the consumer.

The success of that program will be determined over the coming months, but for those consumers with an iPhone 3G in hand, there will be little to 'oooh' and 'aaah' about, aside from the 3G data rates, where available.

From the outside, the phone looks very much the same, except for a plastic backing and a move away from a recessed headphone jack to a flush connector. It has the same look and feel and the same 2 Mpixel camera feature. That said, it does add built-in GPS capability and MobileME application software.

Diving Under the Hood, analysts from Portelligent, as well as TechOnline and Semiconductor Insights, were taken aback by the strength of Infineon's wins in the 3G communications portion, as well as the inclusion of TriQuint for three front-end modules.

"Infineon clearly made their mark on this board with four key design wins," said Allan Yogasingam, a TechOnline technology analyst. "And TriQuint really came from left field with their win their modules. I didn't see a single press-release or speculative article hinting at a relationship between the two companies. In today's internet world, that's a tough thing to keep under wraps."

(Click on image to enlarge)

As previously reported, TriQuint provides three power-amplifier (PA) front-end modules, the first is the TQM676021, which is an integrated 3-V linear UMTS Band 1 power amplifier (PA), duplexer and transmit filter module, with output power detector. It supports HSUPA operation with transmission data-rates up to 10 Mbits/s. Next is the TQM666022, a similar device, but for Band 2 operation. Finally comes the TQM616035 WCDMA/HSUPA PA-duplexer module for Band 5 and 6 (no datasheet available).

Moving up the signal chain, Infineon won big. It supplies the UMTS transceiver, suspected to be the PMB 6952, as well as the baseband processor, which is actually a two-chip module in a single package. The first chip is the X-Gold 208 (PMB 8877), which caters to GSM/GPRS/EDGE waveforms. The second chip is marked the PMB 8802 and is suspected to be the WCDMA/HSDPA accelerator for 3G. While there's still some debate as to whether this combo package with Apple markings may in fact be Infineon's XGold 608 (PMB 8878), which Quirk and Yogasingam expected to see, that chip has as yet not become available to verify under Semiconductor Insights' microscope.

In any case, that it's broken into two chips is surprising," said Carey, given that both Nokia and Qualcomm have integrated both functions it into a monolithic die. However, there may be more to the decision than design choice. "We suspect the second die has something to do with one of the InterDigital patents," said Yogasingam, referring to an Apple, InterDigital patent dispute last year.

The baseband's support memory comes courtesy of Numonyx, the Intel/STMicro spin-off. It includes 16 Mbytes of NOR flash and 8 Mbytes of pseudo-SRAM (PF38F3050M0Y0CE).

Rounding out the communications function is the Skyworks SKY77340 824- to 915-MHz quad-band GSM/EDGE amplifier module, the same part used in the original iPhone.

Power management in the iPhone 3G is split between two ICs: the communications portion of the device is handled by Infineon's SMARTi Power 3i, while system-level power control and management is handled by NXP (exact device to be determined, though Carey believes it's the #PCF50633, as per the original iPhone.)

The Linear Technology LTC4088-2 takes care of battery charging and general USB power control.

Built-in GPS
Aside from 3G capability, one of the big differentiators of the new iPhone device is its built-in GPS capability, which is provided by yet another Infineon chip, this time the PMB 2525 Hammerhead II. "In the old one [original iPhone], GPS was software enabled and was accurate to within blocks," said Quirk. "This time it's accurate to within meters."

The Hammerhead II integrates an assisted-GPS (A-GPS) baseband processor with a low-noise GPS RF front end and multi-path mitigation to avoid large errors in urban environments. While the die markings indicate it's actually a PMB 2520 Hammerhead I chip, Quirk pointed out that it's common practice take the same die, make some fairly simplistic connection or routing changes to alter or improve functionality, and then re-label it as a 'new' chip.

For the main applications processor, Apple chose to stick with a tried-and-true Samsung ARM11-based design, with some tweaks, supported by 128 Mbytes of stacked, package-on-package, DDR SDRAM, also from Samsung. Externally, the main memory comes in two versions for the iPhone: 8 Gbytes and 16 Gbytes of NAND flash. In this case, it's 8 Gbytes, but the source was surprising: Toshiba, in the form of a single-chip device segmented into four, 2 Gbyte die (TH58NVG6D1D).

According to Quirk, the choice of Toshiba was unusual given that Apple had a "huge" deal to buy all Samsung memory. It also was reportedly discussing plans for volume purchase of NAND flash chips that will be used in all iPods and iPhones from June to December 2007 (Source: EETimes Asia.)

"To see Toshiba makes me wonder if that deal is no longer in place," he said. Granted, those deals are aging, he acknowledged, "but now that the new iPhones have come out and seem to be using Toshiba, does this mean that Samsung is playing second string to Toshiba? It could mean some good stock boost for Toshiba!"

With regard to the current 16-Gbyte maximum offered with the iPhone 3G, Quirk suspects that may not be enough, given that half a gigabyte can disappear for just one compressed movie. Add photos and MP3 files and Quirk sees that 16 Gbytes getting eaten up pretty fast.

The SST25VF080B 8-Mbit serial flash chip from SST rounds out the iPhone 3G's memory support.

The tried-and-true philosophy symbolic of the new iPhone extends to the accelerometer, the LIS331 DL from STMicroelectronics, as well as the single-chip 88W8686 single-chip Wi-Fi offering from Marvell. The Marvell chip is accompanied on the back of the main board by a CSR BlueCore6-ROM Bluetooth chip, which surprised the analysts, all of whom were expecting to see the same BlueCore4 device used in the original iPhone.

(Click on image to enlarge)

Rounding out the main chips on the iPhone are the Wolfson WM6180C audio codec, which replaces the WM8758 used on the original iPhone, as well as the Broadcom BCM5974 touchscreen controller, National Semiconductor LM2512AA Mobile Pixel Link display interface and the Texas Instruments #CD3239 touch screen line driver.

The new iPhone's touchscreen approach is the same as that of the iPod Touch, said Carey. The Gen1 iPhone had three chips for the touch screen solution: a Broadcom controller, a NXP 32-bit uP, and a TI line driver. The Touch reduced this to just a revised Broadcom chip (which absorbed the microprocessor function) and the TI line driver. "The 3G uses the same Broadcom chip as the Touch, and an updated TI line driver (smaller chip)."

While Apple's rollout of the iPhone 3G may not have been met with the same frenzied reception as the original, its fan base remains strong, according to Yogasingam. "After spending the better part of the night (see: Video: The long wait for iPhone 3G) with people waiting in line for an iPhone, I'm still amazed at how many people have embraced the Apple brand and are willing to do anything to be an early adopter of anything hip and new from Apple. Apple has this air with its fan base that it could do no wrong."

From the TechOnline Community
* The Samsung applications processor contains Imagination Technologies Power VR MBX Lite again (3D HW acceleration) - (hopefully SGX will feature in the Ipod Touch update later this year -- you will be aware of the Samsung manufacturing licence for SGX and video cores with Imagination.) (Thanks, Naveed.)

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3. The $199 iPhone: still a money maker

By Rick Merritt/ EE Times June 09, 2008

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Apple is likely to reap significant profits despite slashing the cost of its updated iPhone in half, said analysts. Although details about the phone are still scarce, sources said they believe Infineon and Samsung have continued to snag the top chip designs in the handset.
The raw cost of materials to build the iPhone 3G could be nearly half that of the original model, according to Portelligent Inc. (Austin) that conducted a teardown analysis of the first handset. The first phone had a bill of materials estimated at $170 at launch, but the iPhone 3G could have a BOM as low as $100 when it debuts July 11, said David Carey, president of Portelligent, a division of TechInsights, the publisher of EE Times.

The cost cut is also strategic for a company seeking to extend its toehold in the massive cellular market. Apple has sold 6 million iPhones to date mainly in the U.S. in a market where nearly a billion handsets ship each year worldwide.

"Gen2 iPhone pricing is aggressive enough that it made me think Apple's really taking the gloves off on this one," said Carey. "They are probably not as worried about iPhone hardware profits as they are about getting a piece of the action on service revenues and getting more Macs in homes and offices all around the globe," he added.

Indeed, Apple launched a new subscription service called MobileMe for the iPhone 3G.

The original iPhone used the 2.5G EDGE network which delivers a maximum 256 Kbits/s. The new iPhone 3G uses the HSDPA version of W-CDMA, a standard which supports a minimum of 1.5 Mbits/s and up to 7.5 Mbits/s on some chips sets, including one from Infineon.

"I do believe they are continuing to use an Infineon baseband and RF transceiver and a Samsung applications processor," said Will Strauss, principal of market watcher Forward Concepts (Tempe, Ariz.) based on information from a source he would not name.

Strauss said he expects the new model also uses a global positioning system chip from Infineon based on technology it licensed from startup Global Locate which was recently acquired by Broadcom Corp.

Carey said some observers speculated the iPhone 3G uses Infineon comms chips based on some of the code seen in the software developer's kit for the new version of the handset.

Last month Samsung launched a handset using the same Infineon and Samsung baseband, RF and processor chips. At the time, Samsung stated the Infineon chips cost 20 percent less than similar chips from rival Qualcomm, Strauss said.

Strauss said he believes the entire bill of materials for the Samsung phone could be 20 percent less than a similar design based on Qualcomm chips.

Carey of Portelligent said several factors make the iPhone 3G potentially much cheaper to build than the original iPhone.
"I'd suspect the collective volume, learning and engineering changes to the display would mean that the whole touch screen assembly might be about half the $60 or so we estimated for Gen1 a year ago," Carey said. "In addition, the 8 Gbytes of MLC NAND is today around $20 compared to the $50 that might have been the case in June 2007," he added. Carey estimated Apple may have shaved another $25 off the bill of materials costs based on changes he observed in a teardown of the iPod Touch.

Those changes are only slightly offset by new costs for the iPhone 3G. Carey said the additional cost of an HSDPA chip set are only about $15 plus another $5 for the GPS chip. He also noted that the $100 price increase for a model with 16 Gbytes flash adds to the profit margin because the additional memory chips probably cost Apple only about $20.

Netting out all the changes Apple may have had a gross profit based solely on cost of hardware for the original iPhone of $229 and profits of just $99 for the iPhone 3G. "It's always important to point out that hardware BOM costs do not capture many other important facets of product cost such as development costs, software costs, licenses and marketing," he said.

Though profits may be lower, Apple is likely to sell many more units with the new iPhone, said Strauss. Some big markets such as Korea and Japan do not use the EDGE network of the original iPhone, but they do use HSDPA.

Apple announced agreements with a wide range of carriers across Asia, Europe and the U.S. who will sell the iPhone 3G, 22 of them starting on July 11. About another 50 carriers will provide the handset before the end of the year, said Apple chief executive Steve Jobs who announced the handset at Apple's developer conference Monday (June 9).

"I think Apple is going to do very well with this phone," Strauss said. "The fact they have this updated air interface opens many new markets for them," he added.

Both Carey and Strauss noted carriers may be providing an undisclosed subsidy for the new iPhones. AT&T for example, sold a high end Palm Treo phone for $199 after a subsidy, Strauss said.

Carey said the new iPhone probably contains a larger battery based on claims of longer battery life. Apple could easily maintain the existing weight of the handset by using lighter materials in the casing such as plastics which could also improve the cellular reception of the device.

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June 24, 2008, 8:06 pm

4. Virtual teardown puts Apple’s iPhone 3G margin at 56%

By Philip Elmer-DeWitt/ Fourtune

Even though none of the teardown shops has yet to get its hands on one of the new iPhones, we now have two estimates of how much the 8GB model costs Apple to build.

The first, from Austin-based Portelligent, put the Bill of Materials alone at $100. (see here)

The second, issued Tuesday by iSuppli in El Segundo, CA, is more detailed and probably more accurate. As shown in the chart below, iSuppli came up with a BOM of $126.84 before $9 in manufacturing costs and $37.16 in unspecified “other costs” brought the total to $173. (link)

Also not included in iSuppli’s $173 total are an estimated $45 in royalties that Apple must pay to Qualcomm (QCOM) and others (see here) and fees due Hon Hai (Foxconn), Apple’s Taiwanese manufacturing partner.

Still, Apple has managed to build the second-generation iPhone for 23% less than the first one, by iSuppli’s calculation, while selling it to the carriers for roughly the same price.

iSuppli estimates that Apple (AAPL) is collecting $499 per phone from the carriers ($199 sale price plus a $300 subsidy), for an effective margin of 56%. Other estimates put the subsidy in the $325 to $350 range, which would push the markup even higher.

Below the fold: Commercial Times’ best guess of who is supplying the parts listed above, as translated by DigiTimes.

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5. iPhone 3G saves Apple over $50 per unit

By Aidan Malley /AppleInsider.com Monday, June 23, 2008

Even with the newer technology inside iPhone 3G, Apple has managed to trim the price of its handsets by over $50 and is making even more profit on each sale, according to a new cost breakdown by iSuppli.

The supply analysis group estimates that the raw cost of parts and assembly for a stock 8GB iPhone now costs Apple $173, or $53 less than the $226 it first cost Apple for the earlier cellphone.

Much of the breakthrough comes through leaving many existing components intact. While the Infineon 3G chipset and the Broadcom Global Locate GPS unit are new, the Samsung processor, flash memory, and numerous other parts are the same as for the 2007-era iPhone, more than offsetting the price increase that stems from the addition of 3G and GPS.

"They [at Apple] have done a good job in using what worked well with the first one and making improvements where it mattered," says iSuppli analyst Jagdish Rebello.

Although some fees can't be escaped, including $45 in royalties to Qualcomm and others for a 3G license, the savings are said to give Apple roughly $281 in profit with each phone's estimated full, pre-subsidy $499 price -- or a more than 56 percent profit margin.

This doesn't, however, include shipping, sales, and the cost of bundling pack-in devices, according to the study. Apple's actual profit from each device is anticipated to be less, though the 16GB model is believed to be more profitable as the extra memory adds just $23 to the cost despite the $100 boost to the retail price.

Apple's cost reductions should also get steeper as time goes on, iSuppli adds. Apple's price to build an iPhone could drop to $148 by 2009, extending the electronics maker's margins even further ahead of the next major iPhone update.

AppleInsider should have more information soon.

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6. Inside the Latest iPhone

by Arik Hesseldahl /BusinessWeek.com June 23, 2008, 5:15PM EST

For the upcoming iPhone 3G, Apple has reduced manufacturing and component costs by more than $50 per unit, says iSuppli

Apple packed a lot of features into the latest version of the iPhone but managed to keep a tight lid on the cost of components that go into it. Manufacturing and components for the 8-gigabyte iPhone 3G set Apple back about $173 per unit, according to an estimate by Silicon Valley-based research firm iSuppli, due to be released June 24. Comparable expenses for the earlier iteration of the iPhone were about $226, iSuppli says.

Analysts scour component-price estimates to gauge profit margins on Apple's best-selling products, while keeping a close eye on which supply manufacturers have won the potentially lucrative contracts from Apple. Falling component prices let Apple (AAPL) add new features, including navigation tools and faster Internet download speeds, while maintaining healthy margins, say iSuppli analysts, whose estimates are preliminary. The iPhone 3G is due to be released July 11. "They have done a good job in using what worked well with the first one and making improvements where it mattered," iSuppli analyst Jagdish Rebello says.

Consumers who purchase the iPhone in Apple and AT&T (T) stores will pay $199 for the 8GB version, but AT&T will subsidize a big chunk of the price of each phone—an estimated $499 for each device. AT&T hopes to make up for the expense through monthly service packages but will take a bottom-line hit of 10¢ to 12¢ a share through the end of 2009. After royalties, Apple's per-unit profit on an 8GB iPhone works out to about $281, or about 56%, in keeping with the percentage on other Apple products, iSuppli says. The figure doesn't include other costs, including software development, shipping and distribution, packaging, and miscellaneous accessories included with each phone. Apple also pays fees to its Chinese manufacturing partner, Hon Hai Precision Industry.

Apple added parts that enable faster download speeds and navigation features, via Global Positioning System satellites. One big winner appears to be the German chipmaker Infineon (IFX), which iSuppli says won the contract to supply the 3G wireless chipset. Broadcom (BRCM) unit Global Locate will supply the GPS chipset.

Most Components Unchanged

Aside from those changes, most of the components used in the original are likely to remain unchanged. "It makes sense that Apple would go with the same design and not change very much inside," Rebello says. Samsung is thought to be supplying the same applications processor as on the original iPhone. The specifications of other chips haven't changed much either. The new iPhone's camera boasts a picture quality of only two megapixels—again, the same as on the original. Idaho-based chipmaker Micron (MU) likely stayed in place as the supplier, though at a lower cost, Rebello says.

The most expensive parts are the memory chips. Eight gigabytes worth of NAND-type flash memory costs about $23, and about double for 16 gigabytes. Suppliers of the NAND chips are many, and include Samsung, Hynix, and IM Flash Technologies, a joint venture of Micron and Intel (INTC).

Apple also has to pay about $45, or about 9% of the price of each handset, in royalties for patented 3G technologies, according to the iSuppli analysis. Chief among these collectors of royalties is wireless chipmaker Qualcomm (QCOM), who owns several patents related to a technology known as WCDMA used in the 3G chipsets. Others that may be collecting some royalties include Sweden's Ericsson (ERICY) and Finland wireless giant Nokia (NOK).

Another difference this time around: Apple and AT&T have abandoned the revenue-sharing agreement that gave Apple an estimated 30% to 35% of the monthly service revenue generated from iPhone contracts. Apple is making up for the lost revenue with the subsidy from AT&T.

Apple is also likely to benefit from further declines in the component prices. The component price tag is likely to drop to $148 in 2009 from the current $173, iSuppli estimates. That bodes well for the company's gross margins, which widened to 34% in the first six months of the current fiscal year, from 33% in the year-earlier period.

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7. Apple's 3G iPhone: Cheaper For You To Buy, Cheaper For Apple To Build

Dan Frommer /.alleyinsider.com June 23, 2008 6:00 PM

iphone ad.jpgHow will Apple (AAPL) get away charging $199 for its new 3G iPhone when it launches next month? In part by getting wireless carriers to subsidize the phones by several hundreds of dollars. But also by cutting the cost of materials and manufacturing more than $50 per phone, according to an iSuppli report summarized by BusinessWeek.

The 3G iPhone doesn't come out until July 11, so iSuppli hasn't gotten its hands on one yet for a real teardown. But based on its educated guesses, Apple is spending about $173 for components and manufacturing for each 8-gigabyte 3G iPhone. That's $53 less (23%) than they spent to build the original 8-gig iPhone.

[Assuming a $499 wholesale price and $45 in royalties,] Apple's per-unit profit on an 8GB iPhone works out to about $281, or about 56%, in keeping with the percentage on other Apple products, iSuppli says. The figure doesn't include other costs, including software development, shipping and distribution, packaging, and miscellaneous accessories included with each phone. Apple also pays fees to its Chinese manufacturing partner, Hon Hai Precision Industry.

How does iSuppli's fantasy teardown compare to other estimates? Earlier this month, Portelligent estimated that Apple's bill of materials for the 3G iPhone "could be as low as $100," or 41% less than the $170 Portelligent says they spent for the old iPhone. But as far as we can tell, that doesn't include manufacturing charges, so it's not a one-to-one comparison to the iSuppli estimate.

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