Is the iPhone 5 a BURDEN on Apple?

Apple’s (NASDAQ:AAPL) lighter and faster iPhone 5 is selling out fast, but the device may have presented the company with a much bigger manufacturing bill than its predecessors. Apple could be spending as much as $167.50 to manufacture each 16GB iPhone 5 that retails at a subsidized $199. That estimate came from research firm UBM TechInsights, which broke down the cost of each component of the device to arrive at the figure.

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Except for the battery and the NAND flash storage, every component costs more for the iPhone 5 than for the previous two models, according to the research firm. The 16GB iPhone 4S currently costs Apple $132.50 to build, while the 16GB iPhone 4 can be made for $112.

According to the bill of materials arrived at by TechInsights, while the new four-inch display on the iPhone 5 costs $18, the touchscreen makes up another $7.50, and the phone battery is priced at $3. Apple spends $28 on its in-house A6 processor, while the new camera on the phone is manufactured for $10. The cost of the built-in WiFi/Bluetooth/GPS is $4. Unsurprisingly, one of the biggest costs is related to the addition of 4G LTE technology, with the circuitry coming with a price tag of $25, according to TechInsights.

However, the research firm added that these were strictly estimated figures and that a more dependable calculation will be arrived at only after the firm breaks down the device on September 21.

While the 16GB iPhone 5, the cheapest model on offer, sells for $199 with a two-year wireless contract, the 32GB model costs $299 and the 64GB version is priced at $399. Those, of course, are subsidized prices. Apple’s profit margins on the device are still relatively high as the company receives a fee from wireless providers in exchange for the subsidies. The unsubsidized price of the handset is said to be close to $650.

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