The Xbox One reportedly costs $471 to build, meaning Microsoft has just a $28 margin between the cost per unit and the price they're selling it for. As noted previously, the PlayStation 4 costs $381 to build, so what makes up the differences between the two machines?


AllThingsD notes how the Kinect makes up at least $75 of the system's total cost. The most expensive component, however, is the AMD made chip that combines the CPU and GPU at a cost of $110. The PS4 chip costs only $100 in comparison.

The Xbox One's DDR3 memory costs Microsoft just $60, which is $28 less than the GDDR5 memory in use on the PS4. The external power supply adds another $25 to the cost. The headset adds another $10 to the cost and the controller runs $15. Assembly is just about $14 for the entire bundle.