$200 Beats Headphones Cost Only Under $20 To Manufacture

A teardown by Bolt prototype engineer Avery Louie reveals just how Beats lures users into thinking Beats headphones are premium products

Before Apple Inc even acquired the company, Beats’ products had a reputation of being lackluster and overpriced amongst hardcore audiophiles, allegedly capable of only producing an average sound output, especially relative to the price they are usually sold at. Despite selling only mediocre products, Beats by Dre has seen tremendous success over the past few years, and it’s often argued that the success can be directly attributed to the company’s marketing prowess.

As it turns out, marketing is the main factor behind the brand’s success. Brands with superior sounding products such as Audio Technica not nearly as well-known as Beats despite selling better products which are lauded by the audiophile community, while Beats is a very well-known brand and is on its way to becoming a household name if the pace keeps up. By signing deals with major music personalities and famous sports starts to endorse their headphones and getting them to wear the products at public appearances, the company created a very luxurious image of its products. However, once you strip down the premium exterior and the image created by the marketing team, it turns out the headphones aren’t as well made and luxurious as you would’ve once thought.

A post on the publishing platform Medium by Bolt Prototype engineer Avery Louie detailed his attempt at tearing down a pair of Beats by Dre Solo headphones. Following the teardown, Louie came to the conclusion that the luxurious and premium product image associated with the Beats brand may just be a show of smoke and mirrors. But how?

Louie found from the teardown that the company adds unnecessary parts to its headphones in order to add more weight to them so they feel more well-made and premium. The aforementioned strategy is often used by Chinese manufacturers in order to add more heft to their products.

“One of the great things about the solo headphones is how substantial they feel,” Louie explains. “A little bit of weight makes the product feel solid, durable, and valuable. One way to do this cheaply is to make some components out of metal in order to add weight. In these headphones, 30% of the weight comes from four tiny metal parts that are there for the sole purpose of adding weight.”

To be fair, Beats isn’t the only company which employs strategies like this in order to add faux luxury to their products. Still, if you’re shelling out over $200 for a single pair of headphones, it’s something you need to keep in mind. Also, Beats headphones are usually adorned in ridiculously elaborate packaging, which is frustrating and unnecessary and does nothing but drive the price up and again, give the product a more premium feel. Additionally, Louie also revealed that the total cost of the materials used to create one unit of Beats Solo HD headphones comes out to just $16.90, excluding the costs involved in R&D and marketing.