A recent teardown and analysis of the iPhone 3G S has determined that the actual hard costs for Apple to manufacture the phone total approximately $179.00 (US) for the 16GB version. Thus, it would appear, that when a customer purchases a subsidized iPhone, they are paying just over wholesale with the carrier shouldering the rest of the purchase price, which is significant indeed. Without getting into how much profit is reasonable (and the other costs such as R&D, advertising, staff incentives, etc.), this figure shows just how valuable the iPhone business is to the cellular carriers if it is worth it to them to subsidize such a large chunk and still turn a healthy profit.