No, but these prices track for an ultra-high-end product given what I saw of the hardware industry years ago.

For example, volume cost of a basic PCB is in the region of 1 cent per square cm, but a $40 PCB in volume can easily come from many layers and a weird stackup (not to mention that this may be up to about 100 sq cm).

Apple (and most high end tech designers) use highly specialized, very $$$ PCBs for a lot of their products.

They aren't created by traditional litho + etch, but rather by a process called modified semi-additive processing (mSAP). iPhone, apple watch, etc PCBs are basically the same as CPU/IC interposers on a large scale.

Definitely not 1 cent/sq cm cheap, but they have massive volume and high price points. It lets them get the insane part density needed these days.

Would it be in the ballpark of 10x more or 100x more expensive?

Closer to 100x more expensive. 1 cent/sq cm is for very basic cheapo PCBs.

Note that this write-up includes mistakes and omisions. I tried to translate the original source using Google Lens.

https://i.postimg.cc/gm6ZNFYw/File-20230521-171346.jpg

8 USD for the video see through cameras is a big disappointment. So this definitely won't do any AR/MR.

Thank you, it makes a lot more sense now.

Can’t speak to the bom but the rumors have consistently said this will be multiple thousands at retail.

Apples track record is refinement/perfecting for mass audiences not blue sky innovation. I’m looking forward to seeing their entry in this space should it actually launch.

>> Can’t speak to the bom but the rumors have consistently said this will be multiple thousands at retail.

The rumours were similar for the iPad. So much so they poked fun at those rumours when they shared the actual pricing which was shockingly low.

Yeah, the “heat dissipation” module set off alarm bells for me as well. It would be hard to get to that with copper and heat pipes.

I was wondering if Apple is the partner this solid state, active cooling system was referring to at CES 2023

https://www.froresystems.com/

That could be. Or some other super light solution. Thinking about it more, copper is probably too heavy for head mounted cooling.

If you have to dissipate more heat than a lightweight, traditional copper heatpipe solution can handle, there will be problems with noise and battery life.

The mid frame and thermal module costs are unlikely, but not strictly impossible. I can’t contrive of any scenario where there would be $20 of microphone BOM in a headset though.