Apple iPhones are on the high-end of the market, which explains why Android-operated smartphones from Samsung, HTC and LG dominate the smartphone global market.

Even with the launch on Sept 10 of the iPhone 5S and 5C, which became available in U.S. retail outlets over the weekend and alleged sale of 9 million units, many consumers are still staying away from iPhones because of its expensive price tags. Chinese consumers even criticised the 5C for being too pricey when C should mean cheap.

In Australia, the cheapest iPhone 5C has a $739 price tag, while the 5S retails for $869.

Although Apple does not disclose the real cost of its phones, the company's third quarter results ended June 29, 2013 showed a quarterly revenue of $35.3 billion and net profit of $6.9 billion. These figures indicate how profitable the company's operation is based on sales for the quarter of 31.2 million iPhones, 14.6 million iPads and 3.8 million Macs.

Research firm IHS, which has been taking apart and estimating the bill of materials each time Apple introduces a new gadget, estimates it cost the tech giant only $191 to produce the 16GB version, plus an assembly cost of $8, for a total $199 or about $670 profit per unit of 5S sold.

For the 5C, IHS reckoned it costs Apple $173 for the materials of the 16GB model or $183 for the 32GB version, plus $7 assembly cost for a total of $180 and $190. That translates roughly into a margin of $560-$570 profit for the 5C phone.

The IHS estimate is almost the same at that made by The Wall Street Journal for the iPhone 5 in this report.

While IHS acknowledged that it has no real way of knowing exactly how close are its estimates for the 2 new iPhone models, "it's fair to assume they're in the right ballpark, given their experience and long history," Techcrunch wrote.

But it is not just Apple that is making oodles of money from its new models. Reports said that eBay auctioned a Gold iPhone 5S worth $649 for $10,000.

The unit, a 16GB unlocked model, was auctioned by a U.S.-based seller named Papakar who place the device on sale on Sunday afternoon. From low bids beginning at $1, the price increased until it closed at $10,100 at 1 pm, Tuesday.

CNET estimates that a real 24K gold case iPhone would cost $4,646.

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