It costs about $325 US Dollars (USD) to make an iPad2 — and because this does not include shipping or marketing costs, it makes the profit margin of a $500 USD iPad 2 fairly small. Part of this cost comes from the A5 chip used to power the device, which costs 75 percent more than the A4 chip used in the first iPad.
More facts about the iPad:
- The original iPad had more than $1 billion USD in sales in the first four months after its release, and more than a million were sold every month.
- According to surveys, more than 40 percent of people who want an iPad 2 do so just because of the "cool" factor.
- Custom-built iPad apps are often more expensive than the device itself and can cost more than $40,000 USD.