iSuppli has conducted its own teardown of Google’s 8GB Nexus 7 tablet and has found, contrary to prior estimates, that Google may break even with the device after all. All Things D reports that iSuppli’s teardown shows all the components within the 8GB tablet cost around $151.75, or more than $30 less than an earlier estimate from TechInsights. All Things D says that the big discrepancy between the two estimates is that Techinsight made its estimate “without having first obtained the hardware for analysis.”
If iSuppli is correct, then it’s likely that Google will break even with the 8GB Nexus 7 since the $151.75 in parts combined with per-unit costs of marketing, logistics, and research and development will put the tablet’s total per-unit cost close to its $199 sale price. And Google can make a solid profit if more people opt for the $249 16GB Nexus 7 model, as iSuppli found that the 16GB model contains just $159.25 worth of hardware, less than $8 more than the 8GB model.