$1500 Google Glass costs just $80 in components, claims teardown company

The Google Glass Explorer edition, which usually sells on an invitation-only basis for $1500, comprises parts whose total value is just $79.78, claims Techinsights after a teardown analysis.

The company was careful to add that this is a preliminary estimate which is likely to be revised in the light of more detailed research. Google, quoted in the WSJ, has dismissed the estimate as “absolutely wrong” … 

Component costs are of course merely one element of the total costs of bringing a product to market, with assembly, distribution and marketing all adding substantially to the final cost – and of course the cost of the R&D leading to the creation of the product in the first place may be the greatest cost of all when it comes to developing a completely new product category.

However, with many of us wondering whether Glass could make it as a mass-market product at anything close to its current price, it does suggest that Google may be able to eventually price the device around the $5-600 cost of a high-end smartphone.