Google’s $1500 smart glasses much cheaper to make, claims teardown website

The parts for Google’s wearable smart glasses are worth around 5% of their retail price, according to experts that have pulled them apart

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Google Glass costs $1500 — and your ability to walk around unnoticed — but the actual cost to make them may be as little as $80.

A teardown website has pulled apart the Google Glass and delved into the cost of producing the smart specs. The search giant’s glasses include a camera, computer and display which connect to the internet.

Teardown.com, which takes new gadgets apart and analyses them, put the entire cost of the $1500 units at $79.78, though said that was an estimate. Much of Google’s other costs were likely to come from research and customer support, the website said.

The most expensive part of Glass is the glasses themselves, which Teardown.com estimated to cost $13.63, but may be more. The display and glass are thought to cost as little as $3.

Google, which has rejected the estimates, has said in the past that it is looking to reduce the cost of the glasses. They have briefly been offered for purchase to the general public, as part of Google’s Explorer Program, but supplies have often been low.