Earlier today, Apple sent out a note stating that it has sold 1.7 million iPhone 4s during the first three days of its availability. No other Apple launch has moved a similar number of units at launch. The original iPhone needed 74 days to hit 1 million, the 3G S sold 1 million units in 3 days and the iPad sold about 1 million units in a month.
The economics behind the launch are especially interesting. AT&T and other retailers are believed to pay nearly retail price to Apple for each iPhone, while the profit is mainly made via service contracts. At $600 for the cheaper version of the two iPhone variants, Apple’s iPhone 4 has already shifted more than $1 billion in sales in three days. Some estimates claim that Apple will be selling some 2.5 million iPhones until the end of July.
Market research firm iSuppli has already come up with some other numbers in its teardown report. Apparently it costs Apple about $188 to build and assemble each 16 GB iPhone. The most expensive component remains the screen, which is estimated at $28.50. That may be one of Apple’s best profit margins yet: Typically, the margin is somewhere in the 40-50% neighborhood. The iPhone 4 margin is at close to 70%, if the (unofficial) $599 price tag is correct.
If you order an iPhone 4 now, you will have to wait until the end of July, we hear. And those who don’t want to shell out $200 can get discounts or even free phones in a contest wave that is already flooding the Internet. The most creative idea may come from BlendTec, which said it will give one lucky winner an iPhone and prepay a 2-year service contract. In return, you are asked to surrender your old iPhone, which may end up in iSmoke and ascend to YouTube fame.
