How much would an iPhone have cost in 1991? Tech Policy Daily has tried to do this evaluation. Mobile evolution and digital advance don’t concern only features, performances and size, but also a progress in cost containment.



“In 1991, a gigabyte of hard disk storage cost around $10,000, perhaps a touch less. (Today, it costs around four cents ($0.04). Back in 1991, a gigabyte of flash memory, which is what the iPhone uses, would have cost something like $45,000, or more. (Today, it’s around 55 cents ($0.55).”


Considering only memory, processing, and broadband communications power, producing an iPhone, the 5S, 23 years ago would have cost 3,56 million of dollars.


“This doesn’t even account for the MEMS motion detectors, the camera, the iOS operating system, the brilliant display, or the endless worlds of the Internet and apps to which the iPhone connects us. This account also ignores the crucial fact that no matter how much money one spent, it would have been impossible in 1991 to pack that much technological power into a form factor the size of the iPhone, or even a refrigerator.”


A interesting analysis that shows how quickly technology evolves.


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