looking inside, what does it cost here?(parts for $ 200)
When someone says something like that, you know for sure that they have no idea what costs arise in a company that have to be paid for every device sold and the components are only a small part of it.
As I said before, this "Avarice is cool" mentality leads to the fact that the share of development in the products continues to decline, just like the quality. You can see that on many devices in the consumer area.
What do you think what is more important that someone drops a few reputable components in one device? or that the device was developed sensibly and with the necessary time and tests?
It is interesting that the same customers buy products in other areas (or in the high-priced hi-fi area) whose material content is well below 10%, often even below 5%.
With such a device, the entire material content is well over 30% of the retail price, as a manufacturer I ask myself how it can be worth it at all.
Imagine you work or develop something for 1 year and at the end your customers come to you and say "Of course I will pay you for the parts, but the remaining costs and your time are not my problem".
You're sure to scream hurray, aren't you?
In addition, taxes for the government of the respective country in which it is sold (+/- 20%) + import duties, + transport, and the manufacturer also has to pay various taxes in his country, go from the sales price of the device . So the manufacturer and the sales outlets only have about $ 700 of the originally paid amount (approx. $ 900) to cover all costs.
Rent of the rooms for office, production, warehouse and dispatch, electricity, office equipment and devices, development devices (e.g. APx555B from Audio Precision), development software and computers, warehouse equipment, production machines and tools, packaging and packaging material, and much more.
In addition, there are the costs and salaries for all employees of this company, especially the development engineers.
A company has to pay these costs every month (in a company with 10-12 employees that can easily reach over $ 50,000 / month), regardless of whether it makes a profit or a loss.
Let's not forget the development costs (time, material, engineers, prototypes, development devices and the environment), which with such a device can easily be in the 6-digit range, i.e. over $ 100,000 or much more. And if you do not collect these costs with the device, then that is a minus on the company account, because the costs for it have arisen in real terms.
Such a housing is only affordable in quantities (from several hundred to several thousand pieces). A single housing, complete with all parts, anodizing and labeling, would cost more than the device.
And here comes the point that the manufacturer has to pay several hundred thousand dollars in advance for the production of such a device (housing, circuit boards, components, assembly, tests and quality control, packaging). It takes months or years to get the money back, and he has to pay interest on it.