Microsoft's full-body motion-control tech, the Kinect, was released at the beginning of the month at the $150 price point. The company had previously said that it would sell every Kinect unit at a profit, and now, it appears that margin is in fact quite large.
According to UBM Tech Insights (via EETimes), who tore apart a Kinect unit and priced each of its components, the per-unit cost of a Kinect is roughly $56.
Of that figure, $17 is attributed to Israeli semiconductor company PrimeSense's "reference system," which includes microphones, processors, and cameras.
Previously, the New York Times reported that the first Kinect prototype cost Microsoft a whopping $30,000, some 200 times the price the company is selling the unit for. In that same report, Microsoft expressed its plan to sell each Kinect unit at a profit.
For a view of the Kinect's full component breakdown, check out the EETimes report.
The Kinect is Microsoft's first dive into the motion-control gaming era popularized by the Nintendo Wii. Microsoft believes it will sell 5 million Kinect units this holiday. Kinect is currently available as a stand-alone product for $150 and in Xbox 360 bundles beginning at $299.
Check out GameSpot's in-depth look at the Kinect for more on the Xbox 360 add-on.
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