[VaRepublican]

20x.17=3.40, I get that that might be a nice wage IN CHINA, However Iphones are priced like they are made by 20.00 an hour workers.

[C. Edmund Wright]

However Iphones are priced like they are made by 20.00 an hour workers.

Oh really? I didn't realize you had inside accounting info on iPhone's cost structure. But let me see....if the workers are happy (and apparently they are) and if the customers are happy (and most of them are) and Fed Ex is happy (and they certainly are) - isn't the conservative option to but out?

[smartyaz]

hence the 800 billion dollar valuation for Apple.

[proxy_user]

The value added in the final assembly is relatively small. Most of the cost is in the factories in Japan and Taiwan where the components are actually made, in highly automated factories. Screwing the pre-made pieces together is a low-level task.

The actual salaries in China are between $1.70 and $2.50 an hour, but lots of overtime is available, and the cost of living in China is much lower than in the US.

[Swordmaker]

20x.17=3.40, I get that that might be a nice wage IN CHINA, However Iphones aror e priced like they are made by 20.00 an hour workers.

Samsung's top of the line flagship phones sell at retail unlocked for MORE than unlocked iPhones. The same companies that assembled Apple's iPhones also assemble Samsung's cellular phones, but actually pay their assembly line workers LESS than what Apple assembly line workers are paid. Yet, Apple, it is well known, maintains a higher profit margin than does Samsung. . . but Samsung's suggested retail price for it's unlocked top tier flagship phone is up to $100 more than Apple's similarly placed iPhone model.

What can we learn from this? That you are ignoring the fact that there are more economic inputs in top-tier cellular phones than assembly line labor. For example:

• Samsung doesn't even have to pay for its own operating system, not even royalties or licensing, while Apple puts hundreds of millions of dollars into developing iOS upgrades each year which have to be amortized into the cost.

• Apple develops and designs its own processors while Samsung buys its from ARM. even though both are amusingly manufactured by Samsung. . . but design and development are far more expensive than a manufacturing discount by eliminating the profit by buying from yourself.