Nikkei: iPhone 15 Pro Max component costs are up by 12% compared to 14 Pro Max

All four iPhone 15 series models received a teardown from Nikkei Research, revealing their estimated production costs. The summed-up components inside the iPhone 15 Pro Max are estimated to cost $558, making for a 12% increase from the iPhone 14 Pro Max. For reference, the US MSRP of the baseline iPhone 15 Pro Max is $1,199 before tax. We should note that the report targets the baseline storage capacity devices – 256GB for the 15 Pro Max and 128GB for the iPhone 15, 15 Plus and 15 Pro.

iPhone 15 Pro Max component cost analysis

As expected, most components inside the 15 Pro Max, apart from the NAND flash storage, are more expensive than last year’s 14 Pro Max. The new titanium frame, tetraprism 5x zoom camera and A17 Pro chipset serve as the main drivers of cost. The updated 5x telephoto module is estimated to cost $30 – a notable 280% upheave from the 3x telephoto module on the 14 Pro Max.

The titanium frame on the 15 Pro Max is estimated to cost $50 which is up by 43% compared to the stainless steel frame on last year’s model. The new A17 Pro chipset is estimated to cost $130 while the display comes in at $115, representing 27% and 10% increases respectively.

As for the rest of the iPhone 15 lineup, Nikkei estimates the components cost for the 15 Pro is sitting at $523 - an 8% markup from the 14 Pro while the iPhone 15 Plus ($442) and baseline iPhone 15 ($423) have 10% and 16% costlier components respectively.

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