The $687 figure is directly from the article.
Oh, look, another long time Apple Troll!!!
And the full unlocked price of an Android or Windows flagship phone is about the same as well. So your point is? All smartphones are expensive to make. They are at heart a miniaturized computer. Miniaturization costs money. It is not cheap, no matter who does it. The ones you can buy for less are generally much older models that are remainders from left over stock that has already been written off. Apple seldom has any of those. . . having sold every thing they can make.