Apple iPhone 6 Plus Teardown Analysis

This year Apple released two new flagship iPhones, the iPhone 6 and the larger iPhone 6 Plus, finally moving into the 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch mobile phone market. The iPhone 6 Plus is a competitive leap forward against devices such as the LG G3 and Apple's toughest competitor, the Samsung Galaxy Note 4, to be released in October.

It's interesting to see how times have changed. Back in 2007, when the original iPhone was released with a 3.5" display, it was considered a large phone. As Apple's competitors started delivering devices with larger displays, Steve Jobs himself thought it unimaginable for an iPhone display to be larger than 3.5 inches. (He would later introduce the iPhone 4 with a 4-inch display and a large smile.)

Preliminary analysis of the iPhone 6 Plus estimates it costs $242.50 to build -- an increase of about 15% over the iPhone 5S. The estimated combined cost of Apple's new A8 processor and Qualcomm's MDM9625M modem account for $59.50 of the preliminary CoG, while the 5.5-inch display/touchscreen assembly costs another estimated $51. For the iPhone 6, the preliminary display/touchscreen costs about $41.50, with the iPhone 6 totaling CoG approximately $227.

Both devices have an intricately made back enclosure, which uses several pieces of extruded and machined metal work. We estimate the cost for this piece on the larger iPhone 6 Plus to be around $15.

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