A Weibo user citing supply chain sources has posted online that the manufacturing cost of the 5.5-inch iPhone's sapphire screen is as high as $280. This high component cost would push the final retail price of the device to 8000 yuan ($1,285) in China.
In contrast, all the components of iPhone 5S together cost $191, according to an IHS teardown.
The report also says that Apple only plans to make 10 million units of this screen. KGI Securities Ming-Chi Kuo had earlier said that the top-end 64GB variant of the Apple phablet will feature sapphire display. Therefore, the company many have set a smaller sales figure for the most expensive variant of 5.5-inch iPhone model.
The Weibo user also claims that the 5.5-inch iPhone will not be launched alongside the 4.7-inch model, which is scheduled to be unveiled in September or October this year. Instead, the bigger iPhone is expected to debut next year.
Apple already uses sapphire glass in making the camera lens and Touch ID fingerprint sensor of iPhone 5S. It also has a plant in the US that manufactures sapphire glass displays and recently purchased enough furnaces to produce up to 200 million sapphire glass panels from this factory per year.
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