iPhone 3G Takes About $173 To Manufacture Says Estimate [IPhone 3G]

iSuppli, an authority on taking electronics apart and figuring how much it costs to build one, has just put preliminary price tag on the iPhone 3G of $173. That's quite a bit higher from the $100 analysts were quoting earlier. Because this is only a virtual teardown based on estimated parts and not a real one based on looking at stuff, the guys at iSuppli could be off by, say, $50. But based on their estimate of $173, the new 8GB iPhone 3G is less than the original 8GB iPhone's cost of $226. [iSuppli]