High-end smartphones are getting pricier, gimmickier, faster, sharper, more technologically complex and, naturally, costlier to build. Even profit margin champion Apple spent significantly more on putting together last year’s iPhone X than all of the family’s previous generations, which explains the jump to a $999 and up MSRP that many found prohibitive.
As always, Samsung seems to be settling for a considerably slimmer flagship margin than its arch-rival, investing an estimated $379 into the making of each Galaxy S9+ unit that’s then sold at a starting unlocked price of $840.
