According to analysts at UBS Securities LLC, Microsoft will pay as much as $375 per Xbox 360 to its manufacturing partners and sell the units to consumers for $299. This represents an improvement over the last generation, in which Microsoft was rumored to lose approximately $100 per Xbox sold.
In a research note, UBS Securities estimates that two of the contractors, Flextronics International and Celestica, will share revenue of between $350-million and $450-million this year and between $900-million and $1.1-billion in 2006. The Globe and Mail also reported on Saturday that Wistron, a contract manufacturer in Taiwan, will build 60 to 70 per cent of the initial units.