iPhone 4S Carries BOM of $188, IHS iSuppli Teardown Analysis Reveals
On the outside, the iPhone 4S may have disappointed some with its perceived lack of new features. But on the inside, the latest member of the iPhone line includes a wealth of innovation, including a new wireless module …
Context & Ripple Effects
iSuppli has made iPhone teardowns a recurring benchmark since it opened up the original handset in 2007 and priced the iPhone 3G S at a $178.96 bill of materials in 2009, so the $188 figure for the 4S lands on an established baseline rather than in a vacuum. The roughly nine-dollar step-up over the 3G S is notable because the exterior barely moved — a point reviewers flagged when the iPhone 4S review landed earlier this month.
First-order effects
- Apple's per-unit hardware cost rises modestly versus the 3G S even with no redesign, meaning margin pressure comes from internal content — led by the new wireless module — rather than from industrial design.
Second-order effects
- Component suppliers behind the new wireless module gain design wins inside the highest-volume smartphone line, while rivals' radio choices get re-scrutinized; iSuppli's July teardown of the HTC ThunderBolt had already framed LTE component cost as the open question for the next iPhone generation.
Third-order effects
- The 'S'-cycle pattern — same shell, richer internals — makes teardown analysis the primary public window into Apple's cost structure, entrenching firms like IHS iSuppli as recurring arbiters of what flagship phones actually cost to build.
The trend: Flagship smartphones are shifting value from visible industrial design to internal radio and silicon content, making independent teardowns the standard lens on hardware economics.