Apple Makes $350+ on Every iPhone Sold

Now you know why Apple prefers to sell hardware, not software. The Atlantic and Visual.ly have an amusing (if not scary) infographic from iSuppli that reveals that Apple AAPL is making an average of $368 for every iPhone sold. This is based on an average selling price of $560 and average component costs of $178. Shocking, isn't it? How can Apple's costs be so low and its profits soar so high? Obviously the cheap Chinese labor plays a huge role, but we're not supposed to talk about that. We're just about supposed to pretend that it's okay and continue to purchase these items that Apple proudly states are “engineered” in California. Interestingly, Apple still pays a high price for flash memory: $26 for 16 gigs! Remember that the next time you balk at the high price of a MacBook Air.