Foxconn factory is producing 150,000 iPhone 5 units a day

The iPhone 5 should reach shipment levels of 5-6 million units in September leading to over 22 million units in the fourth quarter. Suppliers will ship a lot less iPhone 4 models in the final quarter; it will probably become the entry level iPhone model. This would follow previous years where the current model becomes a cheaper model with a reduced storage capacity.

According to randomly accurate rumor site Digitimes, Foxconn is currently rolling out around 150,000 iPhone 5 units a day. The information comes from industry sources. Pegatron Technology who were thought to have won around 15% of the iPhone 5 manufacturing orders may not start shipping until 2012 according to the same sources.

Lens maker Largan Precision, touch panel maker TPK Holding, reinforced glass supplier G-Tech Optoelectronics and battery vendors Simplo and Dynapack are all operating at full swing currently, the sources indicated.

iPhone 5 only cost $270 to Build

Bloomberg has posted a chart titled “Apple iPhone 5 Hypothetical Gross Margin Analysis” which is essentially a breakdown of the component costs for the 16GB iPhone 5, which is estimated to be around $270 and $190 (excluding non-hardware cost).

The difference would leave Apple with a 56.4 percent gross profit if Apple charges a net $620, although this doesn't include marketing and some other costs. The values are likely to change and will depend heavily on Apple's goals. More RAM and more storage could increase the price.

It's not clear whether the breakdown includes assembly and other prices. Typically, IHS and iSuppli studies have priced iPhones considerably less. iPhone 4 hardware was estimated to cost about $187.51, but only in components.

The attached tabular graph presents the preliminary estimate of the bill of materials (BOM) and manufacturing costs of the iPhone 5. Bloomberg industry has estimated the cost of each component based on the manufacturer, specs and volume sourced from Apple’s supply chain contacts. It also does include how much Apple will spend on shipping and labor to build the phone, or Testing, software development, and patent licensing.

Apple isn't thought to be making any radical breaks in technology with the next iPhone but may be upgrading to an eight-megapixel rear camera and a larger screen. Higher-end models may also go to 64GB of storage.

More from case2case.net .

New Case Designs Revive iPhone 5 Design

MobileFun.co.uk publishes two case designs that are claimed to be for the upcoming iPhone 5. The new designs seem to show that the iPhone 5 will carry a number of changes including a larger screen, curved/sloped back, and larger home button area.
The home button is doing double duty as a gesture area; this falls in line with testing we've seen for gestures on the iPad, and our sources say that gestures are definitely coming in a future version of iOS. The home button will likely be enlarged, but not scrapped altogether. Furthermore, we're hearing that the screen on the device will occupy the entire (or near to it) front of the phone, meaning almost no bezel. Our source says the company is doing very "interesting things" with bonded glass technology, and has been exploring designs where the earpiece and sensors are somehow behind the screen itself, making for a device where the display is actually edge-to-edge.

We suspect all of the images and information are coming from a common source, but we don't necessarily believe it to be true. At the time of ThisIsMyNext's posting, we received a reliable tip that this is not what the iPhone 5 will look like. As well, several other credible news outlets have said that the iPhone 5 will "look largely similar to the current iPhone 4".
The images do seem to be circulating from Chinese case manufacturers. The above image was posted by a Norwegian accessory manufacturer just the other day. This is the same image that MobileFun.co.uk also received and posted.