A report from IHS, via Re/code, has costed out the various components of the iPad Air 2. Naturally, these prices are estimates — the exact nature of the deals Apple negotiates with its suppliers are not common knowledge. The report says that the iPad Air 2 costs Apple $275 in materials, with the screen making up the largest share with costs around $77.
Fortune reported that Apple is likely to achieve record revenues in Q2—but the first fall in its earnings in a decade.
Apple’s revenues are expected to grow from $41 billion to $43 billion, another record for Q2, but margins are expected to have fallen substantially from a peak of just over 47 percent last year to ‘between 37.5 and 38.5 percent’ this year.
Margins tend to fall with new products, due to high initial investments and reduced yields when pushing the limits of what can be achieved (as with the new iMacs), and it’s this falling margin that has impacted Apple’s earnings per share…