Back in early 2021, we saw a report that estimated that the upcoming Apple mixed reality headset will come with a price tag of US$3,000. Thoughout the years, this has been a pretty consistent figure as the what potential customers will have to pay to get the headset. Now that we’re getting closer to the supposed official unveiling of of said headset during WWDC, there are a couple of reports making estimates of the parts included, and what they cost.
As reported by XR Daily News, one of the estimates comes from Minsheng Electronics, which shared its estimated cost breakdown of the Apple mixed reality headset on WeChat. With a long list of parts as well as an assembly cost, the headset is estimated to cost around US$1,400 (~RM6,365). Add in shipping costs and this could go up to US$1,600 (~RM7,275).
Another estimate by Wellsenn XR, pegs the manufacturing cost of the Apple mixed reality headset to be an oddly specific US$1,509 (~RM6,861). A third estimate, as claimed by Chinese site Snowball Finance, pegs the Bill of Materials (BoM) to add up to US$1300 (~RM5911). This estimate may or may not include shipping costs, but if it doesn’t, then the total would be raised to a comparable figure once included.
Either way, even with the most generous of estimates, a manufacturing price of US$1,600 is still just over half of the much reported estimated retail price of US$3,000 (~RM13640). The profit margins here obviously looks pretty steep, but in fairness, it’s not much different compared to, say, the iPhone 14 Pro Max. According to a Counterpoint Research estimate, though the storage capacity was not specified, the phone costs about US$474 (~RM2155) to make, and retails starting from a price of US$1,099 or RM5799 locally.
(Source: XR Daily News, WeChat, Snowball Finance, Counterpoint)
