iPhone 5 “hypothetical” costs and hardware published by Bloomberg

Bloomberg posts estimates on iPhone 5 hardware, costs and margins.

Apple may be winning and losing various battles within the smartphone market, but Infinity Loop is still the undisputed king of high-tech hype. With the iPhone 5’s impending release this fall, analysts and consumers alike have had a field day speculating on the specs of the new smartphone.
We’ve already brought you numerous stories about the potential look, but now Bloomberg has stirred the pot even further with a “hypothetical” cost breakdown. 9to5mac.com reported the breakdown this morning and expects that there will be updates.
As with all of these rumors and supposed leaks, this is speculation, albeit by a well-reputed firm. Bloomberg cites their source as Bloomberg Industry Estimates, though this is not Apple. To get a leak out from under Steve Jobs’s watch would be something of a herculean feat.
If accurate (or relatively close) the new iPhone will cost consumers $620 before channel partnerships and discounts. This would make a healthy gross margin for Apple of 56.4 percent as the projected cost would only be 270.10 dollars.
That is a healthy cut per phone. It’s never been much of a secret why Apple has so much money these days.
Also, these projections are based on a phone with 16 GB of memory. This would mean that Apple would not increase their base memory amounts, as this is the same as the iPhone 4. That would come as a disappointment to many who’ve reached capacity on their current iPhone and area ready for a switch.
As stated previously, this is a developing story based on estimates, so check back for further details.