Apple cuts iPhone 3G design costs to achieve market expansion (Asia)Apple, according to analysts, in order to achieve it’s goal of expanding it’s market and a worldwide presence for product has favoured cost reduction in terms of design instead of it’s cutting-edge features of its 3G iPhone.
The iPhone 3G uses an Infineon Technologies AG baseband chip that supports the HSDPA, WCDMA and EDGE air standards, plus the integration of three separate TriQuint Semiconductor Inc. tri-band WCDMA Power Amplifier Modules (PAMs).
Analysts’ cost estimate for the new iPhone is at $174.33, significantly less than the $227 for the first-generation, 8Gbyte 2G iPhone in June 2007.
Analysts believe Apple aimed for a more cost-effective design for the 3G iPhone compared to the 2G, in order to lower the retail price, which will allow the company to seed adoption and to capture maximum market share.
