New Shuffle Costs Apple $US21.77 to Build

According to a new teardown report by iSuppli, the $US79, third generation iPod shuffle costs Apple a total of $US21.77 to build and box. Here’s the cost per component:

Main Processing Chip (Samsung)
$US5.98

4GB Flash Memory (Samsung)
$US6

Lithium Ion Battery (Smallest iSuppli had ever seen)
$US1.20

Various Capacitors and Resistors (Smallest iSupply had ever seen, a grain of salt a pop)
Less than a penny each

The prices of the headphones, body and case were unspecified, but apparently those components make up the other half of the shuffle’s component cost to Apple. And with the build price at just 28% of the sale price, the shuffle should be Apple’s most profitable iPod ever, even if iSuppli’s report doesn’t account for expenses like R&D. [BusinessWeek and image]