The $9 price just isn't sustainable. It appears the the CHIP team is doing a combination of padding shipping prices, and probably taking a loss for the sake of initial marketing.
[1]https://olimex.wordpress.com/2015/06/05/how-to-get-in-the-ne...
Personally, I don't see how the Zero could cost less than $5 to make. Even if the BCM2835 is $2, there's the 512MB ram, various connectors, PCB, etc.
This, combined with inflated shipping, is probably the key. However, even assuming some aggressive discounts, the BOM must still be higher than $9.
Even with crazy discounts, the CPU + Realtek Wifi + PMU alone would have to be close to $9.
There's a lot of other parts as well: https://github.com/NextThingCo/CHIP-Hardware/raw/master/CHIP...
highly unlikely, price point for entry level tablet SoC with PMIC is ~$5. $16 might be retail one off Gweilo prices.
https://usd99allwinner.wordpress.com/2014/07/30/launching-th...
http://www.tomshardware.com/news/allwinner-5-dollar-64bit-ch...
That was the original CPU CHIP was going to use. They switched to the R8 (no flash/dram) for some reason. The R8 is $5 in high quantities, but of course, they would now need to add the flash and dram, neither of which is cheap.
It is almost a certainty that the BOM cost alone for the CHIP exceeds $9. That's the unassembled pile of parts.
$5 is an arbitrary price, and in no way shape or form comparable with a business making a single board computer and having to buy components at market rate.