How much could an iPhone sold through Verizon hurt the iPhone’s current exclusive U.S. carrier? AT&T could lose 6.5 million iPhone sales, one analyst told investors Monday. The Verizon announcement will likely mean AT&T will sell 11 million iPhones this year, instead of 17.5 million of Apple’s smartphone if the Verizon deal didn’t come to fruition.
Those figures, while dire, were deemed “conservative” by Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster.
However, for Apple, there’s nothing but blue sky. The deal likely means the Cupertino, Calif. company would sell 9 million – or 36 percent of its smartphones through Verizon. There is one slight downside: Apple’s share of iPhone’s sold through Verizon would be lower than AT&T. Although the iPhone comprised 80 percent of its smartphone sales, the handset would only be 36 percent of smartphone sales for Verizon.
Still, Verizon may be eager to ink the deal with Apple to boost its share against AT&T, another analyst reasons. Indeed, Verizon may need Apple more than Apple needs the carrier, Kaufman Bros. analyst Shaw Wu told investors in a Monday note.
“The reason that VZ arguably needs the iPhone now more than ever is as it has lost share to AT&T over the last two quarters as Android momentum slows here in the U.S. (as per carrier subscriber data),” he said. The analyst also feels Verizon may pay a premium for sharing iPhone exclusivity with AT&T, an agreement likely to delay the Apple handset appearing at T-Mobile or Sprint.
