Google Glass costs less than £50 in parts to make, a teardown of the techy eyewear’s components has revealed.
However, despite this budget building cost, Google’s futuristic glasses retail in the US for a staggering $1,500 (£887), a mark-up of almost 1,800 per cent.
While this of course does not take into account development costs, manufacturing fees and marketing budgets, there still seems to be something of a sizeable discrepancy.
Currently one of the most talked about devices in all of tech land, Google Glass’ component costs have been discovered by TechInsights who, having purchased a Google Glass headset during the recent one day consumer sale in the States, gave it a comprehensive teardown.
What was found will be surprising to many. Despite pushing the boundaries of wearable technology, the range of Google Glass components have a retail cost of just $79.78 (£47.21).
The most expensive Glass component is the Texas Instruments OMAP 4430 processor at the princely sum of $13.96 (£8.27).
Despite having offered Glass to the general public for one day earlier this month, Google has long stated that when given a widespread release, the eyewear will be considerably cheaper than the $1,500 development units.
With Google Glass’ internals costing under £50 in total, we would like to see the device cost no more than £200 in the UK – although we feel this might be hugely optimistic.
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