"Disassembling iPhone 14"... How Much Has the Cost Increased Compared to the Previous Model?

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeong Hyunjin] The cost of the recently released iPhone 14 by Apple has increased by 20% compared to last year's iPhone 13, marking an all-time high. Among this, the cost proportion of Korean-made components was confirmed to have decreased compared to the previous model.

On the 6th, Japan's Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported that, together with Japan's smartphone analysis specialist firm Formalhaut, they directly disassembled three iPhone 14 models from Apple to estimate and analyze the cost.

According to the report, the cost of the iPhone 14 Pro Max was $501 (approximately 705,600 KRW). The cost of the top-tier Max model had been maintained between $400 and $500 since its release in 2018 until last year, but this time it rose by more than $60 compared to last year, recording the highest total amount and increase.

Nihon Keizai cited semiconductors as the reason for the cost increase. Apple equips the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max models with its self-designed 'A16 Bionic' chip. This component applies a 4-nanometer (nm; 1 nm is one billionth of a meter) process and costs $110, which is 2.4 times more expensive than the A15 used in the previous model. Nihon Keizai stated that the companies capable of producing this chip are only Samsung Electronics and Taiwan's TSMC.

When examining the cost of the iPhone 14 Pro Max by country and region, the United States accounted for the highest share at 32.4%. In the case of the iPhone 13 Pro Max, Korea had the highest share at 30.4%, but in the iPhone 14, the U.S. share increased by 9.8 percentage points while Korea's share decreased by 5.6 percentage points, changing the rankings. In addition to Korea and the U.S., the proportion of Japanese-made (14.5% → 10.9%), Taiwanese-made (8.4% → 7.2%), and Chinese-made (4.5% → 3.8%) components all declined.

Nihon Keizai explained, "As Apple expands its own component share, the procurement ratio of U.S.-made components is increasing." It also mentioned that due to the U.S.-China conflict, Apple is relocating its production bases from China to Southeast Asia, and it is expected that the country share of iPhone component procurement may change again.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.