Amazon Kindle (2012)

The $69 base version of the Amazon Kindle is even better than before, thanks to a price drop and a slightly improved display.

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Two More Teardowns Look Inside Microsoft Surface and Amazon Kindle Fire HD

Now, on to the Kindle Fire HD. (Seen in its exploded view at right; click to make bigger.) Recall that the last Kindle Fire to get the tear down treatment came in with a cost estimate of $202 (later revised down to about $187) against a retail price of $199, meaning that Amazon was close or near to losing money on the hardware, and was hoping to make it back on the sale of content from its digital store, and even on sales of physical goods from its retail store. One estimate earlier this year suggested that Amazon makes more than $100 off each Kindle Fire. It’s probably pretty close to break even  if slightly profitable this time around, Rassweiler told me. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has said the devices are sold at cost.

Like the old one, the new Kindle Fire HD sells for a starting price of $199, and carries a combined cost of components of $165, according to IHS estimates. Key suppliers are LG Display, which made the screen; Texas Instruments, which repeated its role as the supplier of the main processing chip, plus power and video chips; and Samsung, which provided the memory.

At this point, it’s probably worth looking back at a few more teardowns we’ve written about in recent memory, though its worth pointing out that the cost of components come down over time. In fact, manufacturers depend on that, because a product becomes more profitable as the parts used in them get cheaper. Anyway, here are a few previous teardowns: Apple’s iPhone 5; Samsung’s Galaxy Note Tablet; Google’s Nexus 7 Tablet; and Apple’s iPad with Retina display, circa March of this year.

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