Image by Victor Svensson via Flickr

For many of the gadgets we use every day from our phones to our gaming consoles, they are expensive to buy. For example, the new Kindle, which stores 1500 books on a easy to read device is currently listed at $359.00. For most of us this isn’t pocket change. So how much does it take to build the gadgets we love? With this we know exactly how much money they are really making off of us. For some, they are making a fair amount, but for others they are just barely bringing in anything. Those who don’t make much off the device itself are hoping to make money off the additions to the devices, such as controllers for our gaming consoles. So lets take a look.

For gaming consoles, we have the Microsoft 360 Xbox and the Sony Playstation 3. In 2006, a Sony Playstation cost us $599 for a 60GB and $499 for a 20GB. Yet they didn’t make much off the Playstation at first since the 60GB cost them $840 to make where the 20GB cost them $805 to make. The 360 Xbox wasn’t much different. The retail price in 2005 was $399, but it was costing them $470 to make it. I would image that the extra controllers and games helped make up for the difference.

For high end cell phones, you have the Apple iPhone 3GS, Palm Pre, and Research in Motion Blackberry Storm. Unlike the gaming consoles, these phones did make a little money off of their product, but not very much. The Apple iPhone only made about $20 off of each phone since it cost them about $179 to make and we were paying $199. The Palm Pre made a little bit more money since it was costing them about $139 to make them and we were paying about $199 after their $100 mail in rebate. Costing us $249 before the mail in rebate, the Blackberry Storm cost about $202 to make. If you figure in a mail in rebate, then they were not making much if anything at all.

Other miscellaneous gadgets on the market include the Amazon Kindle, which I have already listed at $359. Amazon isn’t doing to bad in the making money department, as it is reported that it only takes $185 to make one of these. The Apple iPod Touch is really unusual as it is everything that a phone is, except it isn’t a phone. These babies are cost us $299 for 8GB and $399 for 16GB. Yet it only takes $147 for a 8GB and $179 for a 16GB to make them.

So all in all, there wasn’t much made when it comes to gaming consoles, at least not in the beginning. The phones didn’t do to bad, although it was still costing more to make then they were earning in profits. Lastly, the Kindle and iPod Touch came out at the top of the list for making money, as they were getting just about as much as they were putting in. So the next time you go after one of our neat little gadgets, we will know what goes into making them when we stare at the price tag.

For more information:

Consumer Electronic Teardowns