You’re absolutely right about the difference in quality. The theory is that Apple‘a manufacturing scale gives them a competitive BoM, especially on small hardwa

You’re absolutely right about the difference in quality. The theory is that Apple‘a manufacturing scale gives them a competitive BoM, especially on small hardware that doesn’t require a premium processor or much storage. $100 in manufacturing would be too high as we know from teardowns that more expensive and complicated products like the watch are in that estimated cost range. Apple also negotiates better margins on wholesale than 50%. They wouldn’t make much money on $170 AirPods otherwise assigning $60-70 research and manufacturing cost, let alone $100.