I also heard rumors that the they increased the order of 10 million produced units because of certain components being slightly cheaper combined with the huge demand.
The production cost is supposed to be 450 USD. Maybe they got it down to 400 USD per unit. R&D budgets were already calculated in previous P&L statements. But even considering distribution costs, and retailer margin they just can't sell for much lower than 450 USD for the model with a disc drive. They would sell around the break even point and encounter a loss in some countries depending on VAT and exchange rate.
499 USD seems much more realistic. Unless those plates can be swapped for other color or designs they might make some money with that too.
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