According to a report on the disassembly of three models of the iPhone 14 series by the Nikkei newspaper with the assistance of smartphone disassembly and investigation firm Fomalhaut Techno Solutions, the cost of components for Apple’s iPhone 14 Pro Max has risen by around 20% compared to its predecessor, thanks to the latest A16 processor. It is the highest ever.
According to Fomalhaut, the cost of parts for the iPhone 14 Pro Max jumped by more than $60 to $501 compared to the iPhone 13 Pro Max, which went on sale last year. Apple’s highest-tier “Max” model has remained in the range of US$400-450 since its launch in 2018, but this time the cost of parts has soared by more than US$60, making the total cost of parts and the increase in the highest in its history.
According to the report, the main reason for the spike in component costs is the rising cost of semiconductors. iPhone 14 series, Pro and Pro Max are equipped with Apple’s self-developed “A16 Bionic” chip, which costs US$110, twice as much as the A15 chip in iPhone 13 Pro Max last year. This is 2.4 times more expensive than the A15 chip in the iPhone 13 Pro Max.
In terms of country/region, due to the rise in the price of high-priced semiconductors, US components accounted for 32.4% of the overall cost of the iPhone 14 Pro Max, a jump of nearly 10 percentage points from last year’s iPhone 13 Pro Max (22.6%) to take the top spot, while South Korea shrank from 30.4% to 24.8%, Japan fell from 14.5% to 10.9%, and China slipped to 10.9%. The share of Korea shrank from 30.4% to 24.8%, Japan from 14.5% to 10.9%, Taiwan from 8.4% to 7.2%, and China from 4.5% to 3.8%.
