ArsTechnica reports on market research from iSuppli on the breakdown of how much a PlayStation 3 console really costs to make.  The results are quite astonishing!

“Describing the PS3 as an “engineering masterpiece,” iSuppli estimates that the more expensive $599 console costs $840.35 to build, leaving Sony with a $241.35 loss on each console. The picture is worse for the cheaper, $499 version. Sony takes a hit of $306.85 per $499 console sold, due primarily to the lack of any substantial savings from the hardware differences between the two versions of the PS3. For instance, the 40GB difference in hard drive space between the two versions of the PS3 only saves Sony $11 and omitting 802.11b/g on the cheaper console only saves Sony an additional $15.50.”

For those who love charts, here is the full breakdown from iSuppli: