December 24, 2008 According to iSupply, in November 2006 the entry-level US$499 PlayStation 3 console was made up of over 4,048 different components at a cost to Sony of $805. Two years on, they've ripped open a current revision of the game console and while there's 30% fewer parts, Sony is still making a loss of just under $50 per console - making it clear why there was no aggressive price cuts this holiday season.
Since 2006, the Cell processor and the NVIDIA RSX GPU in the PS3 have both gone from a 90nm to a 65nm process, netting cheaper, smaller and less power-hungry chips. The Cell now costs $46, down from $89 in 2006, and the RSX now costs $58, down from $129 in 2006.
iSupply expects Sony to reach the break-even point some time in 2009.
via BusinessWeek
