How much does 8gb of RAM cost in an iPod/iPhone?

Tue, 02/05/2008 - 12:40pm — Chauncey Dupree

8Gb iPod Touch $300 8Gb iPhone - $400
16Gb iPod Touch $400 16Gb iPhone - $500
32Gb iPod Touch $500

It should be $100 for 8GB right? Memory controllers and packaging design cost money - but for the most part on Apple iPhones and iPod Touches, the only difference is the RAM size. To go from a 8Gb iPhone to a 16Gb iPhone - $100. From a 8Gb iPod to a 16Gb iPod. $100.

But to go from a 16Gb iPod to a 32GB iPod, 16GB of RAM, it is also only $100. How can they afford that? It seems like quite a deal - even at $500.

Just an observation...

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Comments

According to several news

Tue, 02/05/2008 - 1:05pm — Bas S. (not verified)

According to several news sites, currently flashram prices are falling dramatically due to overproduction.
http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2208774/dram-makers-suffer-disaster
^ just to name one.

What I'd really like to know

Tue, 02/05/2008 - 1:32pm — JohnnyK (not verified)

What I'd really like to know is how much Apple pays for it?

Apperently you haven't seen

Tue, 02/05/2008 - 2:17pm — Anonymous Coward (not verified)

Apperently you haven't seen many price overviews for bulk purchasing of memory, the production cost increase to go from 8 to 16 is probably way below 50$, and 16 to 32 isn't much higher than the 8GB increase, so either way Apple has a bigger margin (both in percentage and money) the bigger memory version you purchase

it's not for 8 GB, it's for

Tue, 02/05/2008 - 2:21pm — Anonymous Coward (not verified)

it's not for 8 GB, it's for doubling the memory

I bought an 8G USB thumb

Tue, 02/05/2008 - 3:59pm — Anonymous Coward (not verified)

I bought an 8G USB thumb drive for $39.99

I bought an 8G USB thumb

Tue, 02/05/2008 - 3:59pm — Anonymous Coward (not verified)

I bought an 8G USB thumb drive for $39.99

Its a FREAKING RIP OFF.

Tue, 02/05/2008 - 4:51pm — DanJ (not verified)

Its a FREAKING RIP OFF.
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as someone who has never owned an ipod, I was waiting for this upgrade for a while since i mean -who wants the best video ipod with just enough memory to be able to hold nothing.
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I never thought they would introduce it like this though, I always thought it would be a shift in memory capacity for the same price so there would become a 16Gm version and 32GB version for 300 and 400. the cost of flash memory has GONE DOWN since they introduced the ipod touch 5 months ago. Its freaking ridIK that they would do it like this - and you know since what they did with the iphone price drop that they arent going to do that any time soon.
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i think the best way to compare pricing is to see the 32 GB creative zen that sells for 300.
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ggaaaawwwwd damn, why cant they just put out an HDD ipod touch....

Have you ever seen how thin

Wed, 02/06/2008 - 3:03pm — Anonymous (not verified)

Have you ever seen how thin an iPod Touch is. There's no way they could put in a HDD.

Hehe so how about the price

Tue, 02/05/2008 - 5:29pm — Brave Coward (not verified)

Hehe so how about the price of upsizing RAM on an iMac order? It's something like 5 times the cost...probably more. Apple is catering their prices to those who either have money to burn, can't escape the hype train or who don't know any better. It's a shame it is not easy to get an iPod / iPhone and swap the memory out with whatever we want.

Not sure how well this will

Tue, 02/05/2008 - 6:05pm — EagerDragon (not verified)

Not sure how well this will pan out. 100 to go from 8 to 16 on iPhone and 100 to go from 16 to 32 on the iTouch. I guess all things are not equal. Apple fans are not stupid, I expect a price drop on the iPhone soon like 50 dollars or so for the 16.

Me, I am waiting for V2 of the iPhone, so this does not matter.

Not typical Most times Apple

Tue, 02/05/2008 - 6:12pm — EagerDragon (not verified)

Not typical
Most times Apple will double the memory and or give you larger disk drives and or a little faster CPU (considered a minor upgrade) for the same amount as the previous model it replaces.

Sometimes if the value is much larger, they will split the difference (say 500 in retail value for 200 more).

This action is not typical and would likely be short lived.

hey just to point out that

Tue, 02/05/2008 - 9:31pm — Anonymous Coward (not verified)

hey just to point out that isn't RAM it is an SSD or solid state drive, just to clarify

According to a strip down

Wed, 02/06/2008 - 7:07am — Anonymous Coward (not verified)

According to a strip down performed by iSuppli, the flash memory in the 8GB iPod touch costs apple about $32. The total amount for just the hardware components is around $150. http://appleipodtouch.blogspot.com/2007/12/ipod-touch-teardown-component...

I gotta say the word RAM

Wed, 02/06/2008 - 11:40am — linear (not verified)

I gotta say the word RAM typically refers to the memory used to run applications, not FLASHRAM which is typically used for storage. The incorrect usage in the article and the comments makes this very confusing.I thought this article would be on the internal RAM memory and the Solid State Disk SSD

Prices are NEVER equal to

Wed, 02/06/2008 - 12:44pm — Dr_cube (not verified)

Prices are NEVER equal to the costs !! It's the easiest concept of marketing.

Brand new mobile phone at

Wed, 02/06/2008 - 3:28pm — keane (not verified)

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As DanJ pointed out TOTAL

Thu, 02/07/2008 - 2:00pm — Anonymous Coward (not verified)

As DanJ pointed out TOTAL RIP OFF.

Last time I looked 8GB of flash suitable for the Touch cost far less than $25. You don't have to believe me either as one can look up rpices for common Flash on the internet from a number of suppliers. That was a few months ago and prices continue to fall. It also doesn't take into account Apple discounts due to voluum.

So we may be talking about Flash costing Apple maybe $10 to $15 dollars for 8Gb. As others have pointed out whole USB dongles can be had for $40. Givne differnet technology I'd be surpirsed if Apple was paying more than $120 dollars for the flash in the 32GB model.

Frankly Apples little refresh of the i devices has to be one of the greatest and most blatant insults they have thrown at consumers lately. The expectations for cheaper Touches are very reasonable considering what is happening in the market. I'm all for margins but this is beyond making a tiddy profit.