Analysts claim the sapphire glass display of the Apple Watch costs roughly $27 to produce

posted by Peter K. / Sep 25, 2014, 3:51 AM

Analysts claim the sapphire glass display of the Apple Watch costs roughly $27 to produce

You'll have to wait a few more months before you can strap a shiny Apple Watch on your wrist, allegedly for a price starting $349, while more exclusive and premium iterations of the device might climb up pretty high on the price-o-meter. The wearable was engulfed in mystery, but many rumors and speculations kept tipping us that the display of Apple's first wearable will be made of sapphire glass, unlike the ones of the new iPhone crop.

The iPhones don't have sapphire displays due to the pretty high cost, weight and thickness of the material in comparison with Corning's Gorilla Glass, for example, which is still the go-to material for the current generation of smartphones on the market. These aspects of sapphire glass have not prevented Apple from endowing the Apple Watch with this pretty scratch-resistant, yet brittle material.

According to analysts each and every sapphire glass display of the Apple Watch will cost Apple $27.41 to produce. This sum comprises both the bill of materials for the display itself (allegedly $7.86) and the various R&D expenses, labor and production costs, which damage Cupertino $19.55 a piece. The display of the Apple Watch is an OLED one and has a resolution of 240x320 pixels. The most likely manufacturer behind the screen itself is LG.

source: DisplaySearch (translated) via G4Games

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13 Comments

1. Python212

Posts: 363; Member since: Aug 13, 2014

iWatch looks FUGLY, period.

posted on Sep 25, 2014, 3:53 AM 2

9. itsdeepak4u2000

Posts: 3718; Member since: Nov 03, 2012

And they will charge you $270 for the same sapphire glass.

posted on Sep 25, 2014, 4:44 AM 0

10. sgodsell

Posts: 7209; Member since: Mar 16, 2013

No one knows the resolution of the Apple Watch. But this would make more sense that the resolution is 240x320 since some of the current Android Wear watches have slightly larger displays compared to the Apple watch, and the lowest resolution Android Wear resolution is currently the LG G Watch that has a resolution of 280x280. Other rumors have said the Apple Watch has a resolution of 320x400 which would have a better resolution then any Android Wear or any Samsung Gear watch currently. Most likely its the lower resolution of 240x320, but it might be 280x320? Who knows since Apple never released this spec.

posted on Sep 25, 2014, 5:49 AM 0

12. InspectorGadget80 unregistered

And why should we need to know how much their iProduct cost for production

posted on Sep 25, 2014, 9:26 AM 0

13. bob_monkeywarts unregistered

Yeah, it still will sell at a lot more.

posted on Sep 28, 2014, 5:48 PM 0

2. MegaEvolution

Posts: 33; Member since: Sep 24, 2014

Cool another Apple articles for the day, very appreciate for PA for knowing our readership well, thanks PA :)

posted on Sep 25, 2014, 3:56 AM 1

3. Python212

Hi JakeLee

posted on Sep 25, 2014, 3:57 AM 0

4. HugoBarraCyanogenmod

Posts: 1412; Member since: Jul 06, 2014

He/she probably Wendy

posted on Sep 25, 2014, 3:58 AM 0

5. xperiaDROID

Posts: 5629; Member since: Mar 08, 2013

He's Wendy. Seven interesting facts about Wendy: 1. Suspicious username (Well, his current username isn't suspicious, but most of his username are suspicious including the one with a Wendy on it). 2. Anime profile picture. 3. A girl profile picture. 4. Posts blind iFanboy comments. 5. A Malaysian. 6. Will get banned soon. 7. Will make a new PA account soon after that.

posted on Sep 25, 2014, 4:04 AM 4

7. xperiaDROID

*Correction: That will be eight interesting facts about Wendy. 8. He's a dude. (I think many people here already know that)

posted on Sep 25, 2014, 4:16 AM 1

11. aba71983

Posts: 807; Member since: Jul 24, 2014

Where is PapaSmurf?

posted on Sep 25, 2014, 6:43 AM 0

6. maherk

Posts: 6770; Member since: Feb 10, 2012

What a misleading title!! Seriously phonearena, you are losing lots of your credibility. The analyst says that the display with the glass costs this much, not the saphire glass by itself! Gsmarena's title for the same article was very very clear, "the saphire cover and display on the Apple watch cost $27 to make". I think you're trying hard to justify the hefty STARTING price of the Apple Watch.

posted on Sep 25, 2014, 4:09 AM 1

8. vincelongman

Posts: 5677; Member since: Feb 10, 2013

I remember watching a video from a sapphire manufacturer They said they were selling their 4" sapphire planes for ~$30 And that gorilla glass was ~$3 So I doubt the sapphire alone costs $27 But like you said, with the display $27 seems about right