Originally Posted by
Remilia
I wish people, especially public media understand the difference between retail price versus bill of material. BoM is way lower than the msrp. Despite that the margin is thin or even negative. Issue is logistics and retailer cuts and what not. A $10-15 addition to the BoM doesn't discount the logistics of ordering, shipping, and implementing a new item into production and so forth.
To put into perspective, though completely different product area, my cousin that works in manufacturing noted that the top margin for phone was Apple iPhone with around $18 per unit, this is a $650 phone. Then the low end the LG G5(?) was a $0.01, yes, one cent per sale. Everything below that was selling at loss. The "cheap" to us can and will be relatively expensive. You can argue that Xbox S is cheaper yes, but realize that old SoC are well, old and cheaper on a old node process, in turn lower BoM.
This isn't necessarily a defense for Sony more so a clear up. A $10 cost can be the difference between profit and loss. Sure it sucks but I can understand it on thr business end.